


What Lies In Wait

by PF32



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Jedi: Fallen Order (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Found Family, One-sided obsession, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Psychometry, Spoilers, Team as Family, Trauma
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-21
Updated: 2019-12-06
Packaged: 2021-02-18 09:37:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 28,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21508969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PF32/pseuds/PF32
Summary: Cal Kestis has done his best to remain invisible for the last five years, but a simple choice to use the Force comes with dire consequences. Now he's on a mission to possibly restore the Jedi Order; but he's picking up too much attention along the way, and that attention just might be the end of him.
Relationships: BD-1 & Cal Kestis, Cal Kestis/Merrin, Cal Kestis/Trilla Suduri, Cere Junda & Cal Kestis
Comments: 147
Kudos: 444





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Loved the game, loved it. (Sure there were some rough patches but overall, I adored it)  
> I did feel like I wanted just a little bit more between the characters and BAM! This story idea hit me.

The Force Signature when it hits, catches her completely off guard. It’s like a shockwave that echoes through the Force, the feeling of it almost makes her stumble in its wake. After so long of only feeling Force Signatures that amounted to small pebbles being tossed into a pond, this one is almost unbelievable.

There’s a Jedi here. A powerful one at that. Strange though that they would risk themselves so openly on a planet with such a large Empire footprint. Surely they knew better than to do such flagrant uses of the Force? Hadn’t their arrogance caused their destruction once before? Had they still not learned? No matter, it would be her supreme pleasure to hunt them down and to bring their head to her masters.

She considers what she’ll find when she tracks them down. Her first image goes to an older Jedi user. A knight perhaps that avoided annihilation at the hands of the Purge only to find their end at hers. She imagines a Jedi Master, brought low from the destruction of the Order, so ready to throw out useless platitudes like: you can still redeem yourself, or her personal favorite, you’re not lost yet. Oh she does hope that this one is a chatty one. All the more fun when she separates their head from their body. Lately the relics that they’ve found are so worn down and tired that going out in a poorly matched fight seems better to them and their non-existent ‘honor’ then continuing on in squalor.

The young man with the red hair and the boyish face doesn’t immediately stick out to her when she first looks over the group of ragtag scrappers, riggers and engineers that this sad excuse of a rock has to offer. He does draw her attention at one point though, with those big eyes and that face which telegraphs every fear that he has on it. The pleading look that he gives the foolish creature that thinks it ‘takes a stand’ and speaks out unwisely against the Empire is amusing, but not half as amusing as the way his eyes flicker to her for a brief moment and she can practically taste his desperation and the begging that he’s doing for the other man. How quaint, how sweet – and how utterly foolish to think she’ll show mercy.

“Prauf! No!” There’s no rage in his eyes as the cry tears itself from him. She’s looking right at him as she kills the stupid creature, curious to see the interplay of emotions cross that expressive face. She’s not disappointed. There’s horror there, written so clearly across his face at what has just transpired and so much pain and loss. She can feel the smirk twist on her face when he reveals himself to be the one that she’s looking for.

The attack that comes next is unfocused, and completely driven by emotion and the young man is easily pushed aside. Playing with this one is going to be so _fun_. She does hope he doesn’t die too quickly, this Jedi _Padawan_ with the expressive eyes. The Council must have had a field day with him back in the day. Too much emotion after all was a dangerous thing. Wasn’t that what they were always trying to drill into their heads? She can’t help but wonder how long he’s been without a master. How long has he been alone? Hiding in the shadows? How long has that fear that she saw in his eyes held sway over him? She’ll acknowledge his potential, soon to be cut woefully short. Such raw power, only to be locked away and shackled by pain, guilt and terror.

She’s amused by the chase that happens next. It’s always more fun when they run. When they have the hope that there might be a tomorrow and then they learn that there was never going to be a chance of that. She’ll give that he’s either more talented then she originally figured given his ill-planned attack earlier or he’s just inordinately lucky as he manages to evade death over and over again. Leaping from one platform to the next, climbing and running like his life depends on it – which incidentally it does – and cutting down all of the storm troopers in his way while avoiding being torn into a pulp by stray bullets from various angles.

It’s the look that he gives her when he’s trapped at the edge that she rather enjoys. That sort of stubborn set to his jaw as he realizes that she has found him and that there’s no where else to run. The comment about his master giving his life for him is what does it though, turning that look from stubborn to pained. He needs to be trained better, in so many ways, but she’ll give credit where some credit is due. He’s spry, and quick and he fights like the scrapper that he’s pretended to be. Dodging, ducking, blocking and strangely not using the Force all that much.

Is he afraid of it? Afraid to reach out to it? Why would he be? He’s already been caught after all. Now would be the time to let out all of the stops since it might be the only thing between him and death.

The arrival of Cere is an unwelcome event. The fact that her old master rushes in to save the boy from her clutches is enough to make her want to tear that entire ship apart piece by piece. How dare she? She’ll risk it all to save a stranger, but her own Padawan she gives up on? Does she intend to teach him? To create a new student to pour her failures onto? Does she intend to step into the void left by his previous master and guide him in the Force? How entertaining considering what they both know about Cere and the Force these days. Half of her almost hopes that Cere does take him on, because then it will give her so much pleasure to shatter him and leave him in _pieces_ for her to find. It won’t erase the debt that Cere has gathered with her, but it’s a good start.

“Lord Vader is not going to be pleased.” One of the other sisters says and she clenches a fist. That was the understatement of the century. When was Lord Vader not displeased?

“No, he won’t.” She replies before she turns back to the storm troopers standing there at alert. “Bring me everyone from the train that the Jedi was on. I want to know who that was.” She commands and the storm troopers salute her before they march off to go carry out her orders. If she can’t bring either the boy or his head to Vader, then she can at least bring him everything he needs to launch a hunt for him. There was going to be no rock left to hide under when she was done. Not anymore.

The workers brought to her are filthy, disgusting things but they give her the information that she’s looking for: Cal Kestis. A generally well-liked if not unimportant and easily forgettable human who resided at this station. None of them are able to give her much about him before they die, just bits and pieces of a quiet yet hard-working engineer of some note. Talented, but not enough to catch the attention of those higher up. He’d arrived some time ago and had mostly kept to himself outside of his partner Prauf, the creature that she killed. A perfect and overlooked pawn in the grand scheme of things. A good cover as any might be for a Jedi in hiding.

Foolish to maintain his true name though. It takes very little digging into the old Jedi Council’s files to find him. Cal Kestis, Padawan learner to Jaro Tapal. Tapal who had sustained life threatening wounds while protecting the child Kestis from harm. Hmm. A master who actually chose to die for their Padawan, how novel. Not that it was going to do either of them much good. Tapal might have bought time for young Kestis, but now that time was over. He was on their radar now and it would only be so long before they found him.

It’s interesting to read about the concerns that the Jedi Order once had about the young Padawan. According to the files, they’d almost considered passing him over for potential knighthood when he had shown a natural ability towards psychometry, a talent that often got smothered by fearful Jedi masters always so pathetically concerned about opening anyone up to the influence of the ‘dark side’. A talent like psychometry however naturally guaranteed that Kestis would always have a door cracked open to the dark side of the Force, no matter how much the Jedi might have tried to close it. An ability like that would make for a terrifying Inquisitor. It would also make re-educating him so, so _simple_. It’s the notes of Kestis’s potential and raw natural talent with the Force that changed the minds of the Council and allowed Tapal to take him. It’s the same thing that the Second Sister had felt when Kestis had opened himself back up to the Force and used it for reasons unknown. The same thing that drew them all to him.

She kneels before Darth Vader immediately as she hands the information on the Jedi apprentice that got away over to him. The hiss of his breathing mask is the only sound for far too long as he takes in her report and findings, and yet his Force presence is loud enough as to make the blood pounding in her ears seem quiet.

 ** _“He got away? You disappoint me.”_** Vader says eventually and every muscle in her body tenses in preparation for what she knows comes next. **_“I expect results Inquisitor. Not failures. Outwitted by a mere Padawan? That does not please me to hear.”_** He puts down the data and he proves his displeasure. He proves it over and over again until the weight of her failure is scarred deep in her mind. **_“Bring me this ‘Cal Kestis’. Do not fail me again.”_**

She won’t fail again. She will find this Cal Kestis and when she does, she will _delight_ in breaking him.

>|<

“What are you thinking about?” Cere asks behind him and Cal jumps a little, shuffling away from the windows that show the vastness of space.

“Oh…nothing.” He tries to say, but it doesn’t sound convincing and he can tell from the slight eyebrow raise and the small smile on her face that she doesn’t believe it either. “Would you believe me if I said that I was thinking about the Order?” He asks and she huffs out a small laugh.

“If you had said it without asking me that question, maybe.” She tells him and he huffs out a small chuckle himself. “What’s on your mind Cal?”

“…I had a friend, a good friend. Prauf…he died back there.” He admits softly, his gaze going back out to space. “I was standing right there, and she cut him down anyways.” He unhooks his master’s old lightsaber and glances at it. “…what good are we if we can’t even defend those standing right next to us?”

“It wasn’t your fault Cal.” Cere says, coming over to him and Cal huffs a little, backing away from her reach.

“You don’t know that.”

“Yes I do.” She argues and when he doesn’t respond to that she presses on. “Did you kill him?”

“I may as well have.” He replies softly and he can feel that truth crushing down on him. It makes it hard to breathe, and he jolts a little when a gentle touch lands on his shoulder.

“Cal. Listen to me. I know a thing or two about carrying the weight of the dead, and of our past mistakes.” She tells him when he looks up at her. “That’s a hard hole to crawl out of, trust me. Don’t go down there. I doubt your friend would have wanted that for you.”

“If I hadn’t…If I’d been more careful.” Cal stumbles away from her and he rubs a hand over his face. “I brought them to us. If I’d been more careful, they wouldn’t have tracked us. He’d still be alive…”

“There’s no way to know that Cal.” Cere says and Cal knows she’s telling the truth but it doesn’t make it any easier to swallow past the pain.

“I miss him already.”

“Then miss him. Remember him, mourn him if you need to, but don’t carry him with you. You need to let that go, release it into the Force.” Cere tells him and it sounds so close to all of the old teachings that he barely remembers these days. _Anger leads to the dark side, fear leads to the dark side, pain leads to the dark side, attachments lead to the dark side, love leads to the dark side._ Sometimes when he was younger he’d wanted to ask what _didn’t_ lead to the dark side, but he doubted that anyone would have found the question as amusing as he did at the time.

He doesn’t find it amusing anymore though. Not with the dark side so powerful these days and with it constantly nipping at his heels and clawing at him when he sleeps.

The Mantis makes its way to Bogano, and Cal tries to find a way to trust these two strangers who have saved him; but it’s hard. It’s not just the fact that he’s had to sleep with one eye open for so long that he doesn’t know what to do when someone tells him he’s safe like Cere thinks. No, it’s more that he’s never safe. He’s never safe to be around. Prauf learned that. Tapal learned that too. Everyone learns that eventually. Cal’s a death omen to those who get too close.

The night before Bogano he dreams. Old memories dislodged by Cere’s prodding and presence. He remembers the Temple. Running through those hallways and laughing with the other children. They had no idea of what was coming for them. How could they? Kept apart from the world and raised on fanciful tales of Jedi Knights who protected the galaxy and who always triumphed over darkness. What child wouldn’t want to be that? Cal had once. Now though? Now he just walks these halls and he feels like a failure.

There is a moment when he knows that something has changed. A subtle kind of shift that he barely registers and it makes every hair on the back of his neck rise. Something is wrong, he doesn’t know what but he knows that much. The dream doesn’t change, not at first. Cal looks around at the laughing children, and the calm waterfalls and the masters standing nearby and smiling at the little one’s games…and that’s when he sees him. Prauf walking down the halls of the Jedi Temple away from him. Cal takes a step forward and calls out his name, ignoring the feeling that he shouldn’t. He feels like he should whisper, and yet he can’t help but chase after the spectral image of his departed friend. Like a fish caught on a string, being reeled in deeper and deeper into the dream. Like in the one before, Prauf doesn’t turn to him, doesn’t slow or stop either. He just keeps going further into the Temple, leading Cal to some location deep within. A Force Echo with a mission and maybe a message.

Master Tapal had once told Cal to avoid these sorts of dreams. He’d once counseled against any use of the Force in these kinds of ways. Force Visions and Dreams were uncontained, uncontrollable and dangerous…and yet didn’t the spirit of Tapal reach out to him once already through them? Didn’t he use the image of Prauf to guide him to him in order to give him that warning moments before tragedy struck? What message is Prauf leading him towards this time? What else does his Master have to say to him after all of this time?

The hallways twist and shift, the vision taking hold and Cal has to focus, to settle his mind against it. He jolts though when he opens his eyes again after centering himself and he sees that he’s in those strange hallways as before with the first vision of Tapal. Dark, cold hallways that even just the sight of them makes the hairs on the back of his neck rise in _fear_.

_Fear leads to the dark side. A Jedi must never give in to fear._

The warning echoes in his mind as he steps forward and continues down the strange hallways. He doesn’t see Prauf again, nor does he see Tapal when he opens the door that he comes to at the end of it. The giant room that he steps into seems as dark as space itself, the black walls and floors blending into the dark water around the edges. He’s never seen this place before and everything in him screams at him to run away.

But something more powerful – curiosity – leads him forward.

There’s a meditation circle on the ground when he gets to the center and he frowns at it, kneeling down to touch the edges. He doesn’t get the chance before he feels himself caught in a Force Hold that forces him to his feet and locks him in place. It’s not the hold that his Master’s ghost did to hold him in the vision, this one is cold and unforgiving and everything about it reeks of the dark side. So much that Cal feels sick and like he’s being held by something disgusting that he needs to wash from himself.

 ** _‘Cal Kestis’_** A deep, menacing voice says and Cal can barely register his own frightened breathing over the strange rasping mechanical sound behind him as the figure approaches. **_‘I’ve found you.’_** A hand touches the back of his head, gloved fingers sliding through his hair to allow for a better connection as he feels another’s presence start to dig into his own. **_‘Tell me where you are.’_**

 _No!_ Cal thinks as he tries to pull out, tries to do something, anything to get away but he’s held tight.

 ** _‘You cannot escape me, young Jedi.’_** The voice says and it sounds amused by his struggles and that triggers something inside of him. He can’t let this thing or this person find out where they’re going. Cal won’t be the thing that gets them all killed. He won’t be that omen tonight.

“Get. Out…Of. My… _Head!_ ” Cal demands, pulling in as much of the Force as he can grab in this strange limbo world and exploding it from him like a bomb. He can feel the other man be ripped from him, thrown from this shared resonance that they’ve been doing in the Force and he tumbles down into the darkness until he jolts awake with a yell.

“Cal! Cal you’re okay, you’re fine, you’re awake!” Cere says and it takes a moment for Cal to focus on her kneeling next to him, her eyes so concerned and worried for him. “Are you okay?” She asks once he manages to catch his breath and focus on her.

“Yeah…yeah just a bad dream.” He says and he feels a wetness touch the top of his lip and he lifts a hand to wipe at it. It comes away bloody.

“Cal are you sure-” Cere doesn’t get to finish her question because he’s up in a second, rushing to the small bathroom area and closing the door. “Cal!”

“I’m fine Cere.” He calls out as he wipes away the blood and fights down the headache and the terror. “It was just a bad dream.” He tries to say once more, and he looks at his reflection in the mirror. “It was just a dream.” He whispers to himself and even as he says it, he knows he’s lying. “It won’t happen again.”

He’s pretty sure that’s a lie too, but he hopes that it isn’t. He hopes with everything inside of him. They have a goal; they have a chance to restore the Jedi Order. Cal’s not going to mess it up because he was stupid. He knows better now. He’ll be better prepared next time. He won’t let it get that far again.

He looks at his own eyes in the reflection. “It won’t happen again.” He vows.

>|<

Elsewhere, in a dark room of black walls and black floors, a kneeling figure lifts its head and lets out an amused noise.

 _ **“How interesting.”** _He says as he stands and his cape drapes around him. _**“How very interesting indeed.”**_


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was thinking that I doubt that Cal actually knows much about what brought down the Jedi and the war and Skywalker and all of that. He was a child, and he probably wouldn't have had open access to knowledge about any of that. And it wouldn't be something that he could look into afterwards.

The new kid is…strange. That much goes without saying, after all _Jedi_ and all of that weird spiritual secretive ‘Force’ crap; but even with that…the kid is strange. He stumbles around the Mantis the first couple of days, looking constantly lost and uncertain of his footing. He’s jumpy, and jolts a lot even when there’s no reason for it; and he doesn’t really touch anything at first, seemingly intent on making sure that he doesn’t accidentally bump into something. Who knows, maybe the kid’s worried about breaking things on a ship he doesn’t own?

How Cere looks at him though, that gets Greez every time. She gazes at him when he’s not looking with something that looks like a mix of hope and pain. He’s known Cere for a little while now, and she’s been good for him despite everything, and it’s strange to see her responding to anything so openly. It must be a Jedi thing, but the arrival of the kid has put a strange sort of fire in her eyes and she looks at Cal like he’s going to fix all of the mistakes that she’s hidden inside herself for so long.

Greez doesn’t really see whatever it is she does when he looks at the awkward human aboard their ship. He doesn’t see some legendary Jedi knight who is going to save them from the Empire and rebuild a lost Order. He sees…well to be honest he sees a moron. A moron who apologizes too much and who adopts little strange droids, or maybe the droid adopted him, that would make more sense and he’d believe it more. But he sees a moron who doesn’t like to touch things, and who talks in his sleep…tiny little sounds full of pain and suffering that he tries to hide unsuccessfully in the waking hours focused more on everyone else around him then himself. He sees a moron who has a habit of sleeping too heavily despite all of that and one who needs a haircut, but never more than in the mornings when it’s everywhere and as unruly as that droid who keeps getting on his seats.

…Alright, he likes the kid. He eats what Greez puts in front of him without complaint, normally going out of his way to thank Greez for it even when he probably shouldn’t, and he helps keep the ship running with his little toolbelt and it’s obvious that he’s been through some shit but he still tries to lighten the mood and get the others on the ship feeling like everything is going to be okay. He’s a fresh face to the Mantis and he seems like he might be a good thing for Cere, and that’s something that Greez can easily get behind, even if the kid didn’t make it so easy to like him. Sometimes Greez finds himself thinking that if this is what the Jedi were like, then it really was something horrible to lose them all like they did.

This whole plan though? To ‘rebuild the Jedi Order’ is by far one of the stupider ones that they could have ever decided to embark on. The Empire has gone out of its way to stomp down any Jedi left after the fall of the first one and these two idiots think that they’re going to manage to what? Rebuild something bigger than what was there before and kick the Empire’s ass with it? Those idiots are lucky that they have him looking out for them because he’s starting to get a good idea of how hopeless they’d be without him. So sure, Greez doesn’t believe in the big ‘plan’, but he figures that he doesn’t really have to. He just has to fly the ship and keep them fed. He’s alright with that job. They can go try to save the galaxy if they want, he just wants…he’d just like the Mantis to never be quiet again. All that quiet almost killed him, before Cere and now Cal and that nosy little droid came along. He’s done stupid things in vain attempts to drown out all of that quiet and so yeah, he’ll fly into the Empire’s bad side to keep that quiet away and he’ll do it with a smile the whole time.

He reaches up and grabs one of his spice mixes, getting ready to pour it onto the dish in front of him and there’s a shrill little beep from his side as the droid propels itself up to the counter.

“What?” Greez asks it as he swats. “And get off the counter! Who knows what your feet have touched but I’ll bet it’s nothing anyone wants to eat.”

_“Beep! Boo-be-deep!”_ BD-1 scolds and hops all over the counter looking for a better place to stand without dirtying the countertop. Greez doesn’t bother to point out that at this point there’s no ‘better place’ since he’s already touched _everything_.

“What are you talking about? Cal loves my special spice!” Greez argues and BD-1 just levels a look on him.

_“…Beep.”_ It says in a kind of serious deadpan sort of way and Greez gasps in horror as he curls one of his hands over his heart.

“You take that back!” He argues as he grabs a spatula and starts waving it at the little droid who just hops around to avoid it. “I am the culinary master of this sector! And that spice mix is my masterpiece!”

“What’s going on?” Cal asks, poking his head in having heard either the commotion or his name in time to see BD-1 opt against jumping around anymore and has now picked up a serving spoon somehow and is fighting back against Greez like a Jedi all on its own right.

“This little bucket of bolts says that you don’t like my special spice mix!” He points out and Cal holds up his hands in a kind of appeasement.

“What? No! I think…I think it adds…a unique flavor profile to every dish.” He says and Greez and the droid both pause before slowly turning to look at him at the same time, halting their legendary kitchen battle.

“… _Unique_ flavor profile?” Greez repeats.

“Uh…yes?” Cal says, clearly unsure how to handle the situation he’s walked into. “It’s…really…something.” His eyes widen a little. “Something good though. Totally something good. I’ve never tasted anything like it.” Greez and the droid just keep staring. “…I’m making this worse, aren’t I?”

“Yup.” Greez says at the same time the droid says ‘ _Beep._ ’ Greez lets out a chuckle as he shakes his head. “You know kid…how you survived before we got here astounds me. That was the worst batch of lying I’ve seen in a while and let me tell you, I’ve seen some real champions in the field.” He drops the spatula and gets a grin. “But since you love it so much.” He sprinkles it all over it and Cal just lets out an amused huff.

“Yup. Totally looking forward to that.” He says and there’s a kind of playful resignation in his voice and Greez smiles at him.

“Go set the table kid. And you, Scrap Metal. Go tell Cere dinner’s ready.” He waves off BD-1 as he says it.

_“Boo-boo-beep!”_

“I know I’m not hearing a stowaway droid giving me lip.” Greez says as he stirs the food and BD-1 takes off to do what’s been asked as Cal laughs a little and grabs the plates, bringing them over before taking the full ones to the table. Cere comes over with the droid.

“I’m being told that the ‘Kitchen Master’ has summoned me?” She says and Greez grins.

“Yup. That’s right. Bout time I got some recognition.” He says as they all take a seat and start eating. “Oh wait! Cal! You forgot!” Greez says making the kid’s head come up and he tilts it a little in confusion.

“Forgot what?”

“Your favorite, unique spice blend!” Greez jokes, pulling out the spice and leaning over to sprinkle more on Cal’s plate. He stares the kid in the eyes, mentally telling him to just bow out and admit his true feelings on the subject but Cal just sits there silently before scooping up a spoonful of food and putting it in his mouth. He coughs a bit as he chews, looking away as his eyes water. “Like it Cal?”

“So good.” Cal mumbles around a bite he can’t seem to swallow. “So unique.” He downs a decent amount of water before he manages to get a second spoonful and tries again to hide his obvious strain as he does.

Greez is pretty sure that Cere is completely baffled by why the other three at the table eventually burst into laughter when Cal finally gives up and confesses that it’s too much, but the smile on her face as she watches them all is worth it anyways.

>|<

There are so many stories on the Mantis, almost too many for such a small space. There are images and feelings that seem to pour out of every nook and cranny. Sometimes it makes it had for Cal to push back against the echoes of this place and live in the now, but if he were being honest he secretly adores it. It’s a welcome change from the horrors of Bracca and even the cold emptiness of the Jedi Temple.

Back at the Temple, Cal had a hard time finding on anything that might have had a Force Echo tied into it. After all, to find something like that meant that someone wasn’t being thorough enough in controlling their emotions and their Force presence. Normally the only items that would have any story to tell Cal would be something like a knight’s lightsaber or any of the training ones that young initiates stressed and strained and tore themselves apart over. His Master’s lightsaber was something that offered both relief and pain in the days after Order 66. Cal remembers how the Initiate areas would sometimes have glimpses of the lives lived there, of frightful Padawan potentials so afraid of doing something wrong and being passed over by a Knight and abandoned to the world outside once their time was up. Those moments would still be tempered by the nulling force that was the Temple’s construction. A lot of times those moments would hit Cal almost like an acid trip; confused, incomplete and absolutely disorienting.

Bracca though…Bracca was just a living nightmare. Living on that scrap heap had been necessary for survival, but it hadn’t been good for a terrified young Padawan, alone and who had lost their balance with the Force and who had a tendency to feel other’s memories and emotions when his shield’s weren’t tight enough. The Jedi had never really taught Cal how to use his power or how to adjust in the face of something he couldn’t ignore and he’d paid the price for that for years. Hell, he was still paying it most days. Prauf and everyone else on that rock pretended to go about their days like there was nothing wrong with their new lives, but Cal knew differently. Each time he shook a hand when he took a deal, or scavenged an item, or traded it for food, or even just sat in the trains where so many of them had passed through he’d feel it: fear, worry, hate, rage, greed, hunger, pain, loss. Prauf had been one of the gentler presences to be around and trustworthy enough to let Cal allow him to do most of the negotiation and become a kind of shield against the storm; but even he went through every day with a kind of heavy melancholy that hung over him and a fatalistic view of day to day life that could sometimes overwhelm Cal.

Some days Cal would find himself lying in bed and being suffocated by the heavy presence of hard lives horribly lived all around him. Of fear and panic, of wrong steps and lives snuffed out. Sure, he could thank Bracca for one thing: it taught him control to a point. More of it then the Jedi had ever had the chance to give him, but even then he learned the hard lesson that he’d never be able to turn it off. No matter how good he was, or how strong his shields were, there would always be memories tearing at them and there would always be times that they’d find a way to crawl their way inside.

It’s funny, in the way that’s not funny at all, but Cal had once thought that it would be his psychic powers through the Force which would give him up to the Empire. Knowing too much, knowing before being told who had died, knowing when someone was in trouble; he’d thought it’d only be a matter of time before someone started paying too much attention to him for it. But no, it wasn’t the power he couldn’t control which did him in, but the power he could. A simple Force pull to save a friend’s life. Not that it mattered since that friend died shortly later because Cal had hesitated in his fear.

_‘Fear leads to the dark side.’_ He’d been told and he doesn’t know if he agrees with that. But he does know this now: fear leads to death. His fear caused his Master’s death and it caused Prauf’s death and who knows how many others. Was Cere right to pick him? Or did she have no other choice because he was the only option?

There’s so much uncertainty surrounding him right now and he’s grateful for the Mantis in the face of that. Sure, there’s sadness here. Images of Greez alone on the ship, spiraling into a pattern of self-destructive habits. There’s no answer as to why that is, or if there is Cal’s made a point not to go looking for it, but he does have to admit that Greez has made this ship a refuge to someone who has felt nothing but the wear and tear of the universe. He can feel how much Greez cares about this place, his home, and how much he wants them to feel at home in it. Maybe that’s why Cal can trust him so easily, and why he’s been able to find safety when he lays his head down at night. He doesn’t think he’s slept so well for a long time, at least not since his Master used to stand watch over him. So he’s grateful for Greez and Greez’s emotions because while Cere is a maze of conflicting and guilt clouded memories, Greez is an open book. It’s gone a long way in creating a foundation of trust that Cal knows they’re all going to need if they’re going to pull this off.

Plus BD-1 likes and trust him which works in his favor because Cal trusts BD-1 implicitly. He kind of has to, the two of them have decided to throw themselves into some pretty risky situations with only each other to depend on. Events like that tend to make strong bonds, and he’s enjoying having one with the little droid.

He does have to admit though, he is a tiny bit annoyed with the droid’s last master, Master Cordova. This man decided to hide the Holocron deep in the vault, surrounded by tests and yet even then he still sends whoever might come for the information on a ‘follow my journey’ path? That ‘path’ is no guarantee that someone with nefarious ends doesn’t get their hands on the Holocron but it does make it to where with each day that passes more planets fall to the Empire. It does make it to where with each passing day their chances of actually successfully managing what Cere believes they can do with the list goes down significantly. Cal gets being cautious, but this isn’t cautious. This is a whole bunch of dangerous and time-wasting legwork that he doesn’t fully understand.

He considers the chance that Cordova is trying to teach a lesson. A lesson that is more than the simple ‘go here and follow in my footsteps to understand my obsession with a long dead race before I’ll give you the prize’. Maybe there’s something there that Cal just hasn’t seen yet, or at least he hopes so. He knows that Cordova didn’t get a lot of recognition for his curiosity in the Zeffo and their tombs before his death and Cal really hopes that this isn’t some kind of ‘well now you _have_ to listen to me’ kick. They don’t have time for that. The galaxy doesn’t have time for it either.

But Cal can’t ask Cordova for clarification, because Cordova is gone, and Cal’s learned that one can’t ever hope to get answers from the dead. Not even a dead Jedi Master.

“Hey Cere?” Cal asks and Cere looks up at him from where she’s playing that instrument of hers.

“Yes Cal?”

“I was wondering if I could ask you about…about…” His words freeze up on his tongue. “Acutally, you know what, never mind. Forget I said anything.” He looks away and Cere lets out a sigh before she puts the instrument down next to her.

“You can always ask Cal. I don’t promise to have all of the answers, but you can ask.” She looks at him and he must be telegraphing what he’s thinking because she gets a sad look. “You want to know about that day, don’t you?”

“I’m so sorry Cere. I shouldn’t have mentioned it.”

“No, no.” She shakes her head. “It’s your history too. What do you remember?”

“From that day?” He asks and she nods. “I don’t know, one moment everything was fine and then…and then it wasn’t. Everyone turned on us, people I’d known for a while, that I’d talked with and joked with…they were determined to kill us and I never really knew what changed.”

“That’s pretty much how it was for all of us.” Cere says. “We were caught off guard when the order went out. We didn’t know that such a thing could be done, or done so efficiently. But it did, and in one fell swoop, the Jedi fell.” Cal takes a moment.

“I don’t really know much about what was going on. Wasn’t really my place, I was just a Padawan. I went where my Master told me to go and I did what he told me to do…but I have so many questions.”

“Like what?”

“Little things that don’t make sense. Like we were peace keepers and diplomats right? I remember learning that in the Temple. We were neutral, or at least…I think we were? But if we were, then what were we even doing in the war?” Cal asks and Cere leans back, a clouded look coming over her face. “Peace keepers don’t strike me as generals, but I remember that being what Master Tapal was at the end.”

“Sometimes Cal…regrettable things have to be done in order to maintain peace.” Cere says after a bit. “Perhaps we mis-stepped somewhere, good intentions can sometimes not play out the way they’re expected to, but I don’t’ know. There were a lot of unknowns in those last years though, so many things that we were forced to react to.”

“Things like what?”

“There was…a darkness that overcame the Senate and eventually it permeated through every shadow. It blocked our ability to see in the Force. I think…I think we weren’t prepared to do without it and in its absence, we turned to politics. Something we should have stayed very, very far away from.” She shakes her head. “And in the end that was our undoing. The Sith had overtaken galactic politics while we were out trying to maintain the peace and, in that moment, we had lost. We just hadn’t realized it yet.” She looks at him. “You really don’t know?”

“We were away from the Temple a lot.” Cal says. “Most of our correspondences were over holovids. It was like one day I was training to be a Jedi Knight and the next I was training to be a Jedi General. I registered the difference; I just didn’t understand why or what it meant.” He looks at the lightsaber that was once his masters. “And after my master was killed, I waited for a signal that never came. That’s what he told me to do, to wait for the Council…I spent so long sneaking back to that ship, checking it’s databanks hoping that something would have come in…but nothing ever did.” He lets out a tiny sigh. “Eventually the fear of the risk of being caught overruled the hope of a message ever coming in and I stopped going. Then it was only a matter of time before that hope withered away entirely and I don’t know what took its place. Survival maybe?” He shakes his head. “Or maybe it was just more fear. I don’t think I was ever a good Jedi.”

“We’ve all been scared Cal.” Cere says, scooting closer and giving him a look that reminds him so much of the old teachers and masters in the Temple. “You _survived_ Cal. That’s a miracle. I know that sometimes it’s hard to swallow the truth that sometimes surviving is more important than ego, but it is. You were right to hide, that’s what Jaro would have wanted for you. He would have wanted you to _live_.”

“The funny thing is…sometimes surviving and living aren’t the same thing.”

“That’s something the entire galaxy is on the cusp of learning Cal. You’re just a little bit ahead of the curve.” She smiles at him. “But when we get that Holocron we can do more than just survive. We can thrive, we can rebuild what was lost.” She looks him in the eyes. “Do you believe that?”

“I believe that we need to do something.” Cal eventually replies. “I believe that we can’t keep going on with our heads buried in the sand. We’ve gotta take a stand…I’ve got to take a stand. It’s certainly long overdue.

“Then lets start there.” Cere says. “And everything else we trust to the will of the Force. It won’t let us down Cal, all we need is hope and we have that; and soon, we’ll be able to give it to the rest of the galaxy.” Cal looks down at the lightsaber in his hand and he nods.

Hope, he can work with hope.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I absolutely loved all of the reviews! Please keep them coming!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still messing around with canon and lore.

This is getting ridiculous. 

At this point, Cal’s not certain what the architects for the Zeffo were going for when they decided to build these locations like this, but he knows that tourism wasn’t high on the list. Between the strange ball puzzles and having to blow out walls with the Force in order to get anywhere, he’s entertained himself with the thought that maybe these Zeffo weren’t people persons and built their homes to showcase that. 

He does wonder what an entire civilization connected to the Force would be like. Not just the Jedi, but the average person having enough Force powers that creating a place that required it in order to get anywhere in it seemed reasonable. Cal takes a deep breath as he sits down for a moment to take a quick break. BD-1 chirps around him, looking at the walls and scanning various murals and paintings left behind that time and natural wear hasn’t destroyed fully yet. Master Cordova seemed obsessed with letting Cal, or whoever would come after him, through BD-1 that the Zeffo were a peaceful society, but jumping through these death traps has made Cal wonder if maybe Master Cordova was being a little blind in his obsession. After all, the Temple Guardians were certainly not trying to talk to Cal whenever they caught a glimpse of him here. 

_ “Bweep, bo-boo beep!”  _ BD-1 calls out to him as he takes scans of some sort of skeleton poking out of the rockface. 

“Yeah, that is big.” Cal agrees. “No offense to it, but I’m glad that there’s not a chance that we’d have to fight it.” 

“ _Beep_.” 

“I’m sure you could buddy.” Cal chuckles a little with a shake of his head. “But how about we avoid the big monsters whenever we can?” 

“ _Boo beep._ ” BD-1 replies and Cal takes a sip of water before sighing. 

“Yeah, yeah. Here I come.” Cal says, pushing himself back to his feet and stretching for a moment. He reaches down and helps hoist BD up onto his back. “Let’s see if we can make heads or tails of all of this before the Empire catches up.” He mutters as he moves forward to continue his downward descent into the vault. It’s been slow progress, but if there’s any lesson that he learned well on Bracca it’s this one: that even slow progress eventually gets the job done. 

_ ‘The obstacle becomes the path’ _ Master Tapal’s words echo in his mind. There’s been a lot of that these days since Cal’s started opening himself back up to the Force. It’s not what it used to be, once upon a time. Once it was calm and serene, now when he meditates it’s dark and cold, with the memory of destruction and death hanging over him at every turn. Not to mention, he’s been exceedingly wary after accidentally resonating with that unknown third party. He wonders if it was another Inquisitor. He’s met ‘Second Sister’ and ‘Ninth Sister’, who’s to say that there isn’t a ‘Second Brother’ or even a First? He doubts that he’s ranked high enough on the list for that, but who knows. These are people skilled in hunting Jedi, maybe that’s how they do it. They lay in wait in the Force until someone reaches out and leaves a breadcrumb trail leading back to them. 

He knows that he’ll have to be a thousand times more careful. There is so much more at stake here than just himself now. Cere and Greez, all of those Force sensitive children that Master Cordova wrote down somewhere. 

_ “Cal?”  _ There’s crackles and pops over the connection, but Cere’s voice comes through easy enough. 

“We’re here. What’s up?” He asks as he looks at another long drop down. He kicks a couple of small stones off the edge and listens to hear them hit the sides and hopefully the bottom. BD-1 matches his glance when they don’t really hear any kind of satisfactory bottom to the pit. 

‘ _How are you doing in there?’_

“Good so far. Nothing major yet. A couple of scrapes and burns, but nothing BD and I can’t handle.” 

_ ‘Okay, good to hear. Keep your guard up Cal. The Empire is all over and they’re looking specifically for you.’  _

“I know, we’re being careful.” Cal assures her as he walks over to a small ledge and pushes his back up against it and starts to make slow progress via the tiny edge. One wrong step and Cal would quickly learn what those pebbles just did. “We’ve gotten pretty far into the vault. I think we’re nearing the end. It’s hard to tell, this whole place is a maze and we don’t have a lot of direction for where we’re going.” 

_ ‘Just keep pressing forward Cal. You’ll find whatever it is you’re looking for, I’m sure of it.’  _

“Thanks Cere.” 

_ ‘Stay safe Cal.’  _

“We will.” Cal replies with as much confidence as he can muster into the words when he hears the concern in Cere’s. “Thanks for worrying Cere, but you’ll see. We’ll be fine.” 

_ ‘Yeah…Okay then. May the Force be with you.’ _

“You too. Make sure that you’re being safe too. Make sure that the Empire doesn’t figure out where you are.” 

_ ‘We’ll be there when you need extraction, don’t you worry about that.’  _ Cere promises him. _‘Let’s cut the comms for now, but I’ll check in on you guys again in a bit.’_

“Alright. Talk to you then.” The static ends and so does the transmission as they make it to the other side. “Alright BD, gotta pick up the pace.” Cal says and BD trills a response. “Yeah, yeah. I know.” 

>|<

This is getting ridiculous. 

This is nothing more than a scrapper rat playing Jedi and these incompetent fools can’t seem to capture him? His escape on Bracca was one thing. Ninth Sister’s and her need to play with the Padawan had made them careless and had allowed an unexpected third party to aid him and stage a rescue mission; but to have every Inquisitor looking for him and with every stormtrooper troop armed with the knowledge that there is an active Jedi running around out there and prepared to send in any information if they even catch so much as a brief glimpse of him and yet still – Cal Kestis remains at large. 

The information, when it finally comes that he’s been sighted on Zeffo had been a message long in coming. It also bore a second bonus to it. It allowed a brief insight into what Cere might be dragging the young Padawan along for. Trilla remembers Master Cordova after all, and she remembers Cere telling her all about his obsession with the Zeffo civilizations. What was it about the ruins and the vaults that tempted them so? What was in there waiting to be found that Cere had seduced Kestis with in order to do her bidding? Trilla will be interested to find out first hand from the source. 

Unfortunately, and irritatingly, Cal Kestis slips under their radar somehow while simultaneously leaving behind a trail of dead stormtroopers in his wake. He must be getting better, learning to trust himself again and to trust in the Force once more. She very much doubts that Cere is teaching him that, after all they both know the fickle line that Cere is on these days with the Light Side, the whole reason that she would have needed Kestis to begin with. The inner most parts of the vaults were closed to the Empire, requiring a powerful Light Side user in order to interface with them. Something that they were in short supply of. Kestis however, matched those requirements perfectly. It will be interesting to meet him in battle again; it might even be a little more fun than last time. 

Vader has taken a strange interest in Kestis’s case. Trilla’s not certain why, but he wants the Padawan captured alive. Probably interested in making an Inquisitor with the psychometry power that Kestis has. It was always a rare and powerful gift; it would make a powerful and dangerous Inquisitor. Although, Vader didn’t say anything about him being brought to him all in one piece. Trilla figures that he won’t begrudge her for taking a limb or two as souvenirs. 

“So let me make sure that I’m understanding this correctly.” Trilla says, marching calmly in front of the stormtrooper captain. “How many soldiers were stationed here?” 

“A few hundred Second Sister.” The clone replies. 

“And how many were killed?” 

“Just shy of sixty ma’am.” 

“So out of several hundred troops that were still left standing, including the one in front of me now, one lone Jedi gave you the slip? Did you manage to slow him down? Injure him in any way? Find out what he was after?” She asks, taking her saber from her belt and the clone captain knows what’s coming. 

“No ma’am. We were unabl-” He cuts off in a pained gurgle as her lightsaber cuts him through. 

“Show me everything we have on the Jedi’s visit. I want to know where he went. I want full reports and any video surveillance pulled and given to me immediately.” She tells the newly promoted captain and they nod immediately, saluting her before taking off. The Ninth Sister chuckles in that mocking yet menacing way of hers. 

“Too late again. Spry little runt.” 

“He’ll slip up, and then we’ll have him.” Trilla says as she turns and walks away. She has no interest in hashing out anything with the Ninth Sister. No, Cal Kestis has proven that he requires a much more delicate touch then what that brute could ever hope to accomplish and Trilla will give it to him. 

She’s impressed at how few times Kestis actually appears on the videos; she wouldn’t have figured that he’d be very discerning about being seen. She’s not surprised however to see him climbing things with ease, leaping from one thing to the next with little fear and scaling large areas in short timeframes. She figures that growing up as a scrap rat on Bracca would have afforded him many opportunities to maintain his form, agility and strength; and it’s more than clear as she watches the videos that Cal Kestis has kept up very nicely with all of that. He’s also using the Force more, pushing some troopers off of ledges or knocking things over to escape into various unmarked tunnels or areas that might have been closed off to him without the Force’s aid. 

“Second Sister?” A troop comes over to interrupt her after an unknown amount of time watching and studying the videos she has and she turns to him. 

“Report Soldier.” 

“The Jedi has been sighted on Kashyyyk.” He says, standing at attention. 

“Where?” 

“The Refinery plant.” 

“What an odd location to pop up in.” She muses. 

“Perhaps not Second Sister. The Partisans have organized an assault on the Refinery. They’re taking out our post as we speak but reports of the Jedi being amongst them have been sent out.” He says and Trilla is pleased to hear that they can actually do their jobs correctly for once. 

“There are Purge troopers there, yes?” Trilla asks and she gets a nod as an agreement. “Interesting. It will be good data on the Padawan’s growing skill level.” 

“Shall we prepare your ship for departure?” The soldier asks and Trilla shakes her head. 

“Why ever would we do that?” 

“I’m sorry ma’am, don’t mean to overstep.” The soldier is quick to say. “Just thought you’d want to chase after the Jedi.” 

“No, I think I’m uninterested in chasing him any longer.” She says as she looks back to the videos. “I intend to make him come to me.” 

“Second Sister?” He asks, clearly for clarification. 

“They’re clearly obsessed with these Zeffo sites. Well I say it’s time to give them a reason to believe that something major has just been unearthed here.” She chuckles softly. “He’ll come to us, and we’ll be ready for him when he does.” 

“Yes ma’am.” 

>|<

“Hey Cere, you wanna…take a break or something?” Greez asks as she fusses over the transmissions. “I’m sure the kid is doing fine and besides, you said you didn’t want to risk reaching out again for a while.” He reminds her. “Plenty of time to catch some rest.” 

“I’m sure he is fine, I’m just…I’m just worried. I want to make sure that no one surprises us or gets the jump on him.” 

“He’s a scrappy little thing, and that droid is as loyal as it gets. It’s not going to let anything happen to him.” 

“I know, I know. I just…” She pauses, images of younglings that she failed looking up at her with fear in their eyes as she left them behind. The look on Trilla’s face as she put that helmet over her head. “I know what they do to the Jedi they capture…I know far too well.” 

“Cal’s not going to let the Empire get him.” Greez says coming over. “And we’re not going to let them get him either. Say, isn’t it like a thing for you guys? To believe in the Force? It’ll take care of the kid, right?” 

“Yeah.” She says with a nod, hoping beyond hope that she’s telling the truth. 

“Then he’s good. He’ll be back Cere before you know it. You’ll see.” 

“I know Captain…thanks.” She gives Greez a smile. It’s a little worn around the edges, as are most of her smiles these days, but it’s genuine which is something she once thought she’d never figure out how to do again. “Yeah, maybe you’re right. I’ll take a small break. Watch the scanners for me?” 

“I’ve got them. You catch some sleep.” Greez waves her off. “Save the energy for when we gotta get out of here.” 

“You’re absolutely right.” 

“Wait, what was that?” Greez asks, holding up a hand to his ear. “I think I missed that.” Cere chuckles a bit. 

“I said, you’re absolutely right, Captain.” 

“That’s right. About time someone noticed.” Greez says as he shoos her out of the cockpit, taking up her previous spot. Cere lets out an amused huff as she gets up and goes to her room to take a quick nap. After all, exhaustion is just as dangerous as being drunk, and they can’t take a risk like that. 

In hindsight, she figures she should have known better. She’s been on edge ever since seeing Trilla on Bracca. Her ex-Padawan’s reemergence into her path and life, not to mention her worries about all of the younglings on Cordova’s list has made her control tentative. She lays her head down and closes her eyes to sleep, but in the nightmare, she opens them to find that she’s back in that torture chamber, strapped to that chair. The troopers mock and jeer at her, laughing at the once proud Jedi pulled down to this level as they tell her the words that brought about the event that has haunted her ever since. 

_ We have something to show you. Someone wants to say ‘hi’. _

There are the steady footsteps and Cere looks up to see the new arrival just as she did that day and immediately everything in her turns to ice. 

Because standing there with the helmet under their arm is _Cal_. The one looking at her with those eyes that ooze hatred and darkness is _Cal_. She failed him. She failed them all. Cere hears herself screaming, feels herself tearing at the dream in horror and rage. 

She snaps awake immediately, her mind remembering that she’s not in an Imperial torture room anymore and Cal isn’t the Empire’s newest Inquisitor. She’s on the Mantis, and Cal is out there with BD-1 looking for a way to save them all. They haven’t lost. She hasn’t lost _him_. She slides her legs over the side of the bed as she sits up and puts her face in her hands. There’s so much that Cal doesn’t know. So much he doesn’t understand. She’s going to have to tell him. It’d be best if he heard it from her, but she’s not ready yet. She just needs a little more time. 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there might be some tag changes soon, I'll be sure to warn everyone in the chapter notes as they happen.

Despite his reservations, the attack on the airbase was a necessary step forward in the liberation of Kashyyyk. There’s absolutely no way that they’ll manage to take over the refinery plant and free the Wookiee hostages if they don’t secure this location first, but the Imperial forces on the ground are more organized than Saw had previously expected of them and it’s proving to be a mistake on his part. He still stands by the fact that this was as good as they were going to get as far as openings were concerned. Something is going on with the Empire forces, they’ve been redistributing soldiers left and right and he’s heard rumor that the Imperial Inquisitor’s were on the move again, unleashed from their cages to wreak havoc. That tells him that something has kicked the Empire’s hornet nest and while Saw doesn’t like the fact that he doesn’t know exactly what that is, he can appreciate the opening that it’s given them.

Unfortunately, despite the knowledge that they were always going to have to sacrifice some of them, the numbers they’re losing are starting to worry him. If they don’t manage to wrap this up quickly and free the Wookiee slave labor force then they’ve lost this battle. Hell, looking around he’s coming to terms with the fact that even with the Wookiee’s Kashyyyk might still be lost to them. Saw hates that, he hates giving ground to those bastards but he hates the idea of losing this war even more.

The arrival of the walker is certainly an unexpected event on all sides. Some of his soldiers had yelled out a warning as it came around the corner into view, ready to fire upon them all and Saw can see already how this all plays out: they’re going to be wiped out. They can deal with ground forces and blaster guns, but a walker? Not a chance…but then the strangest of things happens, the walker starts to fire on the Imperials locations.

“Did one of our guys get in there?” Saw yells out, tapping the comms to figure out which crazy bastard actually managed to infiltrate and overtake a fucking walker.

 _‘Its not one of ours’_ Is the response he gets back and Saw glances over at the machine from where he’s hunkered down. Is this a newcomer? That’s quite the entrance if so, but if they’re willing to decimate Imperial forces then Saw’s not going to look a heavily armed gift horse in the mouth. Or at least not yet, not while there’s still an opportunity to be had here. It’s not easy getting up on top of the walker and he’s certainly not expecting the teenager that greets him when he manages to glance inside. He’s also not expecting the almost cheeky response from him either. It entertains him a little; the kid’s got spirit, he’ll give him that. Crazy as all hell, but he’s got spirit. He needs better aim, or a better understanding of which targets to take out because he seems more interested in the empty starfighters and the refinery plant parts that explode and block off Imperial forces until they retreat either into the ship that goes toe to toe with the walker and loses or just into the forest to fight another day.

When they finally get a chance for a proper introduction, Saw can see immediately that there’s something different about this one. He can feel it in his bones, that feeling which has always led him the right way when picking out individuals who would go on to help push the Partisans further. This ‘Cal Kestis’ has an energy about him that’s as magnetic as it is impossible to find. A kind of optimistic hope that’s sorely lacking in the various parts of the fractured Resistance. Sure, Saw’s got people who are angry, and anger is good but it’s got nothing on the sheer charisma of someone who truly believes in a chance for a better tomorrow and who can get others to believe in them and their belief as well. Cal Kestis has that kid of charisma written all over him, even in spite of his youth. Who knows, maybe that youthful naivety is working in his favor in this case. He doesn’t look tired or beaten down by this war, or full of broken-down apathy. Instead he’s ready to jump into the fray just to help someone else, just because he can and because they need it. That’s a thing that Saw can appreciate and he can see how that sort of attitude is already giving a lot of the Partisans a soft spot for the boy. Not that he needed the help since they’ve all acknowledged that his intervention at the airfield undoubtedly saved their lives. They all know how quickly the fight was shifting into the Imperials court and then this kid showed up like a fucking deus ex machina and pulled them out of the fire.

Kestis claiming to be on ‘Jedi business’ at first is entertaining, but not nearly as entertaining as the kid pulling out a lightsaber that he probably found in a scrapyard somewhere and actually claiming to be a Jedi himself. Saw doesn’t believe it in the slightest although he knows a thing or two about symbols and hell yeah, a _Jedi_ rising from the ashes and fighting back against the Empire? That would be a powerful one, but this kid is barely out of the box and he’s apparently stupid enough to claim something like that. Not the wisest of choices considering the Empire’s hatred for all things Jedi. It’s been years since Saw’s heard anyone even mutter about that dead warrior sect, and no offense to the kid but the lightsaber doesn’t prove anything.

He watches the kid though, as he moves about the damaged airfield in the aftermath of the battle. He’s determined to aid in whatever way he can, him and his little droid assisting with finding people trapped under the debris. Hell, he even goes as far as to try to dig out a few Imps. Luckily for those bastards, he doesn’t find any that are still alive. Too bad though, Saw has _questions_ for them.

“What’s he doing down there?” Saw asks his second in command and the woman adjusts her grip on her gun.

“Exactly what it looks like. Checking for survivors and supplies. Whatever he can get his hands on. I’m surprised he hasn’t tried to keep any of it and take it back to his ship.” She muses and Saw nods.

“Have you talked to him yet?”

“No. No time.”

“Claims to be a Jedi.”

“So I’ve heard.” She says with a small huff. It’s clear that she doesn’t believe it either. “But we don’t have the time for this. Leave some forces here to finish up and let’s move on. The Imps aren’t going to be disoriented for long. We need to move.” She looks at him. “…you’re not seriously still considering using the kid as a distraction?”

“If he wants to play Jedi then I say we let him.” Saw replies. “If he survives then it will work out in our favor. If he dies, oh well, lesson learned.”

“You can be a cold-hearted bastard sometimes.” Mari replies and he gives her a look.

“I’m just prepared to do whatever needs to be done in order to win this. Isn’t that what we’re all here for?” He reminds her. “Get the others to the rendezvous point and get that ‘Jedi’ moving.”

“Yes sir.” She says and she takes off. He moves on to the rendezvous point himself and he spells out a simple ‘plan’ to get the kid on board.

“Take that lightsaber and free the Wookiee’s.” He tells him and the kid nods. Saw feels a little bad about it, but however long that kid with his little light toy can distract the guards is another minute where Partisans might be able to pull this off. They each have their part to play, and this one is the kid’s. He didn’t argue with it after all. However, never let it be said that Saw can’t acknowledge when he’s misread a situation. To be fair to him, who wouldn’t have? Who would have looked at that child and think that he could do the things he could? Saw follows his progress, the Partisans moving in behind and around him as he works his way through the base like a force of nature. Saw watches him jump from battle to battle, deflecting blaster shots with ease and wielding that dual saber like a vengeful god; but that awe is nothing compared to the feeling that he gets in the pit of his stomach that feels something like opportunity when he sees Kestis hold out his hand to blow out walls and to slow down time with nothing more than a flick of his fingers and his mind.

Holy shit. This _is_ a Jedi. He wasn’t lying. What information like that could do to bolster the Resistance is almost unfathomable. If Saw could have a _Jedi_ at his side, then imagine the doors that would open up for them.

He needs some work, that much is obvious. He’s too restrained, too reactive instead of proactive. He seems determined to hold back, matching force for force and only striking down those who have made an active choice to attack him. For every soldier that Saw sees him strike down, there are three more that he could have gone around and hunted down, but he doesn’t. That’s all well and good in theory, but it’s not useful in a warzone. It’s okay though, something like that can easily be taught out of someone. The next test that gets thrown the kid’s way is a strange trooper in black that Saw’s never seen before and the bastard cuts down the Partisans left and right like they’re nothing. Saw considers locking him in the room, trapping him with no way out to be dealt with later when Kestis enters the area and draws the soldier’s attention to him. He finds himself holding his hand over the button and he waits, he wants to see this and he’s not disappointed. The Jedi cuts down the trooper, barely breaking a sweat. This is good, and it just keeps getting better and better. The fact that Kestis actually manages to succeed in the suicide mission that Saw gave him and free the Wookiee’s while taking out everything the Empire threw at him is amazing. No wonder the Empire was so afraid of these Jedi. If this is what one could do, he can barely imagine what hundreds of them could do. How did they ever manage to get wiped out in the first place?

He does have to admit that he reads Kestis wrong a second time, and that’s not something he’s particularly pleased about. Instead of riding on the high of the battle won and accepting Saw’s offer to fight alongside them, Kestis cites some mysterious mission that he’s on and that he won’t walk away from. That’s…unfortunate. There’s so much that they could have done together, but who knows. Saw can be a betting man some days and he figures that once Kestis has finished whatever it is he’s doing that maybe he’ll come back to him. Until that moment though, Saw has no qualms about using the image of a Jedi returned to his best advantage.

Hope is in such a small supply these days after all, and if Cal Kestis can bring some then Saw will squeeze every last drop out it of him without the slightest bit of hesitation.

>|<

It’s a strange feeling to try to contend with. The dual sensations of elation and remorse that seem to be flowing through him at every turn. Sure, he’s absolutely thrilled that they’ve taken back the refinery plant for the Wookiee’s and he’s proud of the fact that they’ve managed to free so many Wookiee slaves…but the bodies of the dead that litter the ground in their wake, the losses on both sides, is something that Cal’s not really certain how to deal with. He knows that in theory Master Tapal would have prepared him for this, it was an unfortunate reality in a Jedi’s life; the reality that one day every Jedi would be forced to take a life. Cal’s not really sure though how he feels knowing that he’s taken more than he’s able to count or even attempt to keep track of at this point. It feels like a heaviness that he doesn’t know how to carry yet. He knows that others might argue with him, but regardless of what’s been done he feels that there should be some weight given to it. An Imperial life is still a life, and the taking of it is something that should be done with great hesitation; but these days it feels like he gets thrown into situations where there is no other choice.

_“I don’t want to die here.” The stormtrooper said, terror obvious in his voice and in the way his shaking hands tightened around his blaster._

_“Then don’t.” Cal replied to him, lowering his lightsaber a tiny amount to show a lack of aggression on his part. “Just walk away. Neither of us has to die.” There’s hesitation there, and for a moment Cal truly believes that there might be a chance that this is one life that won’t be on his hands…but then the trooper fires with a cry of ‘Die Jedi’ and Cal reflects the shot back, feeling the sudden hollow echo in the Force where a life once was._

The Partisans are grateful for his help. He doesn’t doubt that they probably could have managed just fine without him, but it feels good to see something positive come out of all of this. He walks around the temporary camp, helping out wherever he can and he can’t help but overhear Greez at one point trash talking someone else as they discuss some kind of upcoming betting match. Cal has no doubts that Greez will get an earful if Cere catches him doing that and far too soon, they’re on the move again.

The Empire has restarted Project Auger. Cere’s worried that they might have uncovered another Zeffo tomb which might have rekindled the Emperor’s fascination with the place, but Cal can’t help but worry that they’ve done that. What if their intervention and interest in the vaults is what got the Emperor deciding that electrical storms be damned, he’s going to figure out what’s so special on Zeffo?

“I don’t like this.” Cere says, a deep frown etched onto her face as she looks at the screens. “I don’t like the thought of sending you back in there, it’s too risky.”

“Yeah, but it’ll be even worse if they find something that we need to be able to open the tomb on Bogano.” Cal points out and it doesn’t seem to settle any of the worry the woman has because Cere’s body language seems to get more and more tense the closer they get to Zeffo.

“You need to keep your guard up.” Cere says as they step off the ramp back onto the planet and Cal nods.

“I always do.” He says and she shakes her head.

“I’m serious Cal. We’ve lost the element of surprise. They know that we’re interested in the tombs and they’re going to be on high alert.”

“I’ll be careful Cere, I promise. Besides, I won’t be alone. I’ll have BD with me.” He says and BD trills an agreement to his statement.

“Just…stick to the shadows as much as you can. The longer you can go without revealing that we’ve returned the better chance you’ll have of getting in and out.” She looks him in the eyes. “Cal…just watch your back. Don’t hesitate, Not even for a second because they won’t show you the same curtesy, and believe me what happens after that is worse. So much worse.”

“I know.” Cal agrees, softening his voice. “I’ll be fine. I’ll find out what’s in the tomb and I’ll be back. Keep the ship running.” He smiles at her and she gives him a half-hearted return smile of her own. “Come on BD. We’re on a timetable here.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I get that JFO is a video game where you have to fight enemies and kill them, but I do feel like the 'peacekeepers' that Cal believes the Jedi were goes a little against the whole 'just run in there and kill it' mentality. So this chapter just highlights his struggles.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some AU elements really starting to show up in this chapter. :-)

It’s amusing how easily a plan can come together, and how easily it can all come apart. Take Cere’s crusade for instance; an ex-Jedi betrayer who believes that she’s found her perfect Padawan in Cal Kestis, and who believes that together they’re going to resurrect the Jedi Order and defeat the Empire. It’s almost laughable when spoken out loud in its entirety, and it’s just the sort of doomed crusade that Cere would jump on without hesitation and bring everyone else down with her. Cal Kestis should watch his back with that one, not that he’s aware of that fact yet. Sure, Cere talks a good game. Her eyes are earnest and she’s able to make anyone believe that she means every word she says, but Trilla knows better. Trilla knows that Cere’s nothing more than a snake in the grass, that nothing but poison drops from Cere’s lips and Trilla knows that far too many Padawans have been burned by it. She figures it’s only so long before Kestis gets burned too, she does hope that she gets to see it. It seems fitting after all. Cere keeps finding lone Padawans it seems, always the Seeker that one, and yet none of them will ever be what Trilla is. Cere should have taken better care of what she had before she threw it away for five minutes of reprieve. 

Trilla would make her pay for that five minutes for the rest of her life. 

The trap laid out on Zeffo works like a charm, not that Trilla thought it wouldn’t. She knows that Cere can’t take the risk of the Empire stumbling onto something big and Trilla also knows that she’ll send Kestis in like a fool just to prevent that. She gets word from the soldiers up in the village and the main compound that a few lone sentries up on the passes have stopped reporting in _‘Probably just comm interference’_ they tell her but she knows differently. Kestis is here. Right on time. 

“If you see him, lead him here.” She tells the captain. “Let him believe he’s managing; it’ll be all the sweeter when he realizes his folly.” The captain salutes her and then they all vacate the area, leaving Trilla alone in the room to prepare. There’s an interesting sort of energy that’s building inside of her as each minute ticks by and that the elevator doors haven’t opened yet. She feels like it’s been building for a while, maybe since Bracca. Maybe it started when Cere swooped out of the sky and pulled Kestis to safety, practically spitting in Trilla’s face as she did. Or maybe it started with the Jedi Archives, and the knowledge that Jaro Tapal must have died to save his Padawan like all good Masters should. Maybe it started sooner than that, maybe it started with that boy coming off the train with the scared eyes and the creature that was terrified but willing to risk death in order to distract the Inquisitor’s from their original prize. She wasn’t sure, what she did want to know was this: what was it that was so special about _Cal Kestis_ that he was the one everyone took risks to save? That he was the one who got to get away? 

_ “He was a good kid, quiet but trustworthy.” “I don’t know, you could just depend on him.” “There’s no way he’s a traitor, it’s got to be a mistake. This is **Cal**. I’m not sure he’s got a deceitful bone in his whole body.” “He wasn’t like everyone else on this rock, he cared. Like really cared.” “You could count on him to get the job done and to get it done right, hell you could count on him for anything really.”  _

The words of the Bracca scrappers that had been pulled in for questioning regarding Kestis echoed in her mind. Dozens of people all saying similar things, painting an image that made Trilla uncertain if she wanted to roll her eyes or break something. 

The sound of the elevator engaging is music to her ears and she plants herself in perfect view. She wants him to see her the moment he steps off. She’s not going to hide and jump out at him, that’s unworthy of her. Instead she wants to see that fear again, the fear that she saw on Bracca. She wants him to look at her with those eyes as she beats him and drags him to Vader to throw him at his feet.

The doors open and she’s not disappointed. Kestis’s eyes widen as he spots her and his whole body tenses. 

“Cal Kestis. How predictable.” She mocks. She can see the surprise written all over his face at her greeting. “Oh yes, I know your name…your past, and most importantly about Cordova.” She paces around, showing him her back and showing him how unthreatened by him she is. He’s slowly coming off the elevator, his body shifting into a defensive stance. She figures it’s time to throw him off his game a little more. “Tell me, where did he hide the holocron?” She expects him to talk to her, to try and say something that’ll make her hesitate. Undoubtedly Cere’s told him all about her wayward pupil, Trilla is curious how Cere’s painted herself and her Padawan in those tales. Did she tell a story even remotely close to the truth? How much does Kestis know and how much is he going to drag this out pretending to care? 

She’s beyond pleased when he doesn’t offer up any words, instead the sound of a lightsaber igniting does the talking for him and hastens the next part. “Outstanding.” She says and she can feel a smirk pull across her lips. Much more fun then Cere’s last one, they talked too much, this? This sort of action Trilla can respect. It’s foolish, but she can respect it. At least he’ll be able to say he fought. Not many of them get to say that. Trilla and the other Padawans that had been captured with her hadn’t gotten to say that. A regret that Trilla’s carried ever since. 

He’s better this time around then he was on Bracca. An impressive leap in such a short amount of time. His records did say he was gifted, for once it seems that the Jedi were telling the truth. What a novel concept. It’s clear even as they battle that she’s the superior fighter, but she’ll give that he’s fast and nimble. It’s a dangerous combination. She’s seen many a time how someone gifted with those two traits have taken out stronger and better trained adversaries than themselves. 

The most impressive thing though is his eyes. They’re calm, almost calculating. She wouldn’t have given that to him, not with how he seems to wear every single emotion on his sleeve. He’s not being aggressive, not really, and it only takes a few times meeting his blade and watching him dance away to figure out why: he’s studying her. It’s almost adorable. He’s trying to study her moves, get a feeling for any habitual stances or weaknesses in her form; it makes her want to laugh but she can respect the intention behind it. She throws out a few comments, trying to find a weak spot. If he wants to use this time to study her, then it’s only fair that she should get the same curtesy. He doesn’t respond to overall threats or the promise that he’s going to lose, he does have a tiny tell that gives when she mentions going after the others once she’s done with him. It tells her that he doesn’t really care what happens to him, but he cares about what happens to those with him. 

…she was like that once. It gets broken out of someone rather quickly, especially when Vader is involved, but he’ll learn that soon enough. 

The Force hold that she does he fights back against and she almost loses her grip and so she throws him through the wall. It’s time to end this, playing with her food is fun and all but Lord Vader won’t be pleased to be kept waiting for too long. Although she figures that Kestis won’t come quietly, maybe he needs one less leg. 

Her attack doesn’t follow through though, because that damn droid that she’d forgotten all about triggers the security protocols and puts up a barrier between her and Kestis. 

For a moment there, she saw the fear that she saw on Bracca in his eyes. 

“You’re learning.” She praises, she figures that much is due. “Not quite as gifted as Cere’s last apprentice, but not bad.” 

“You’ve been keeping count.” Kestis says and he sounds disgusted by it…but he also sounds like this is news to him. How interesting, it seems Cere’s been a little less chatty than usual. 

“I’m surprised she didn’t tell you. Cere was never good at keeping secrets.” 

“And you know her so well, huh?” Kestis asks and it’s just brilliant. It’s the perfect wedge to drive between the group and Cere’s just handed it to her. It’s one thing to create doubt with lies, it’s a completely different thing to do it with the _truth_. The truth always struck deeper. 

“She was weak. Cracked in an Imperial torture chair.” She tells him. “Surrendered the location of her naïve Padawan. They would never have found me…” She reaches up to take off the helmet, if only for the effect of humanizing her. If Kestis cared so much about the people, then Trilla would give him a person to look at rather than just a faceless Inquisitor. “If it wasn’t for her. She betrayed me.” There it is, the surprise and the almost disbelief. He looks stunned to find out the information, taking a few steps closer to her. 

“You’re Trilla.” He says. So it seems that Cere at least told that much, a name and no story to go with it. 

“In the flesh.” She tells him and she can see him going to pull away long before he turns physically from her to try and walk away. 

“I won’t let you manipulate me.” He says as he goes to leave and she wants to tell him that she already has, that everything about this is a manipulation – but she’s not the only one doing it. Cere’s got her own claws in him, deep wounds that Trilla is going to draw his attention to before he leaves this cave. 

“So sure are you?” She asks and she already knows that she has him when he stops. He should have kept walking. “When faced with the choice to protect herself or her Padawan, she chose self-interest.” He’s still standing there, listening. “She’ll sell you out too.” He takes a moment before he turns to engage her again. 

“Well, I can handle myself.” He tries to say, and it’s pathetically amusing. 

“Can you afford to take that chance?” She asks him. “Your new master harbors great darkness. The look on her face when she saw what they had done to me. As I am now. She turned and exposed her true nature.” She pauses for dramatic effect. “She used the dark side.” 

“She cut herself off from the Force.” Kestis tries to defend Cere but it’s clear that what Trilla has said has unsettled him. 

“Oh? How long before she cracks and betrays you too? Is that who you want beside you when you find the holocron?” She turns to look at him and he’s closing off to her, time to really dig it in. “What would Jaro Tapal say?” 

“You have no right to mention his name!” Ah, there it is, the emotion and the fire. She’s hit a nerve, a very raw one at that. She figured that much but still; it’s pleasing to see the results of her efforts. 

“I wonder. What would he think if he could see his Padawan now?” She continues and she’ll give him, she would have expected to see rage there but instead all she sees is poorly hidden pain and grief. It does make him foolish though, he storms right up to the barrier, telegraphing to her every emotion. “Skulking in the shadows with a betrayer. Granting her access to a legion of impressionable students?” 

“No. I won’t let anyone touch them.” The determination in his eyes, the stubbornness reminds her of a time long past. She turns from him and grabs her helmet. 

“I thought the same thing once.” She says as she leaves him there. He’ll have to come out of the Tomb. More than that, he’ll undoubtedly seek to reach out to Cere to get answers or direction, she’ll hack the comm when he does and it’ll let her know exactly where he is in real time. The second he makes a wrong step, they’ll have him. 

He’s only delayed the inevitable. 

>|<

Going through the tomb this time around is different than the first. Last time he’d been excited despite the ridiculous puzzles but this time…this time he feels unmoored. 

The Second Sister is _Trilla_. Cere’s Trilla. 

Why didn’t Cere tell him? Why didn’t she come clean about it? Worse than that…how did he not know? How did he not know that she was lying to him? How did he not know that there was something more to the story that she wasn’t telling him? What else hasn’t she told him? 

He can feel the echoes of a long dead civilization, learn their methods and reasonings but he can’t seem to feel the truth in those closest to him? 

_ She could be lying _ . He wants desperately to believe that, but something in him already knows she isn’t. He remembers the talk that Cere and him had in the Mantis with new clarity, the way she looked away, the way her eyes shifted when he asked if Trilla was dead and she said she was. The signs had been there, why hadn’t he paid attention to them? What else hadn’t he noticed? 

The tomb feels different then the other one, something that puts his already frayed mind on edge. Eventually though, he gets tired of asking the questions that he wants to ask Cere over and over in his mind so he opens the comm. 

“I found it but Cere…why didn’t you tell me?” He asks and he’s not sure what he wants or what he needs her to say. He’s not sure what’s going to fix this sudden fissure that feels like it’s cracked inside of him. What he knows he didn’t need however is for Trilla’s voice to come over the comms instead of Cere’s. He could have also done without the continuous egging on and mocking that the woman seems determined to do throughout the entire tomb. The tomb is a success though, in so much as they ever are and he repairs a little more of his connection with the Force so he considers that a win…but he can’t raise the Mantis when he gets outside. BD-1 assures him that he’s restored their comm security, kicking the Second Sister…no, not the Second Sister – _Trilla_ , out of them and yet they still can’t raise the Mantis. It makes a whole bunch of warning bells and red flags go up in his mind and he just imagines all the ways that the Empire could have found them. 

In hindsight, he should have been more careful. In his haste to return to the Mantis the stranger gets the drop on him and the last thing he remembers is their jeering laugh as they smash him over the head with their blaster and everything goes black. 

>|<

Well this is an unexpected turn of events, that’s for certain. An annoying setback at most, but still very irritating. The bounty hunter had come out of nowhere, catching everyone – apparently even Kestis himself which was slowly proving itself to be no small feat – off guard and they’d run away with a prize that was already claimed. It wasn’t hard to follow along and there were a few times that she almost considered shooting down the ship. 

_ “You have something that belongs to the Empire.”  _

_ “Listen lady, you want it – you pay for it.”  _

_ “Name your price.”  _

_ “Sorry sweetheart. I don’t do the negotiations; you’ll have to deal with the boss for that.”  _

That little pissant has no idea how lucky they are that Cal Kestis is aboard that ship. It’s the only thing keeping them alive. Sorc Tormo is a worm that Trilla would rather not have to negotiate with at all, and there must be something in her demeanor when she steps on that asteroid because immediately the self-proclaimed king of this rock starts throwing favors her way. 

“And what oh what brings an _Inquisitor_ my way?” 

“The young man your hunter just brought in. Give him to me.” She tells him and he smiles at her. It almost makes her ram her lightsaber into his face. 

“So it’s true. Pretty boy down there _is_ a Jedi. You know, I had almost thought that it was all baseless rumor? Greez is known to be a little overdramatic with the storytelling.” 

“If you know what he is, then you also know that I have full authority to do anything I wish in the pursuit to bring him in.” She warns him and she goes to put her hand on her lightsaber and Tormo immediately holds up his hands. 

“Wait, wait, wait. There’s no need for that.” He says as he motions for her to calm down. “Let’s both get what we want. A Jedi is a rare treat, my watchers would go absolutely crazy to see one in the arena.” He comes a little closer. “Let’s say we make a deal. You let me run him through the ringer, and when he’s all rung out you can just take him. Free of charge.” 

“I could just take him now. Free of charge.” She informs him and he nods. 

“You could, but why? A Jedi must be a difficult thing to keep a hold of for the Empire. Let us tire him out for you.” He smiles that slimy smile. “A few rounds, what’s the harm? My watchers get what they want and your pocketbook stays heavy. Seems like a win-win scenario to me.” She considers the offer. 

“I want to see him.” She says. “Make sure that your associate hasn’t done anything permanent. The Emperor would not be pleased.” 

“My boys know not to harm the merchandise.” Tormo says, sounding almost affronted. “But if that’s your requirement then of course!” He claps his hands. “Take her to the Jedi’s cell. Put him in his own, don’t put him with the others. I don’t want a hair on his head harmed before the match.” He smiles at her again almost as if expecting a gold star or something for his requirements regarding Kestis. 

She doesn’t say anything to him, instead following after the assistant who guides her down to the lower levels. The security here is terrible, not that it needs to be concrete. There aren’t really any ways off of the station. 

“Here he is.” The assistant that she didn’t even bother to get a name for says and she steps past him to see Kestis lying there on the floor, unmoving. Whatever they gave him must have packed a punch, most Jedi recover quickly from various methods of incapacitation. She kneels down next to him and grabs his shoulder, pulling on it and rolling him onto his back. His head lulls to the side, his red hair obscuring some of his face and she reaches out only to hear shrill beeping and then one of the workers yell in pain as the droid zaps them and tries to rush over to help its master before it gets grabbed again. How sickeningly loyal. Apparently Kestis can even get _droids_ to try and sacrifice themselves for him. 

“Put a restraining bolt on that thing. I’ll be taking it with me too.” She tells them and they struggle to get it under control again and Trilla smirks at the cry that it gives to the unconscious Jedi to wake up. Kestis doesn’t stir and the workers leave with the droid, leaving her alone for a few minutes with the boy. She tilts her head a little and looks down at him. Tormo wasn’t incorrect, he is a pretty little thing. She reaches out and brushes some of the hair out of his face. He looks impossibly young. She brushes her fingers slowly down the scar on the side of his face and she pulls away when she hears someone approach. 

Tormo gives her an amused grin like he’s caught her doing something she shouldn’t have. “Did you need a few minutes darling? Hate to interrupt whatever you have going there.” He mocks lightly and he immediately backtracks when she stands and approaches. “I saw nothing!” He says immediately before shifting gears and trying a new way to smooth her ire. “Well how about that, you look tired. Why don’t you come to my private box and put your feet up? We’ll wait for sleeping beauty here to wake up and while that’s happening you can experience all the hospitality that we have to offer.” 

Trilla considers ignoring the offer and just taking Kestis with her now, but it would be better if they didn’t start a rivalry with the ‘underworld’ elements of the galaxy. It could get annoying for the sector security and she’d rather not be the cause of that. So she’ll let them have their fun with Kestis, let him be pulled around like a performing monkey and then when they’ve all had their fun laughing at the last Jedi, she’ll take him to Lord Vader and this will all be over. 

Simple enough. 


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Tormo acknowledges that Greez is to blame for Cal being nabbed by the Brood, I just kind of messed with that idea. As mentioned before, this is AU so in this verson/world, this is what happened.

Silence has never really been Cere’s way, and certainly not when she’s angry or frustrated. She’s always been the first to open the conversation when something has gone wrong with the plan or to let anyone else know where she stands on things. It’s just Cere’s way, and maybe that’s why this silent treatment is so terrible.

This is all his fault, he’ll acknowledge that. He got too cocky or too careless or just too stupid and now the kid was going to pay the price for it. In his defense, it’s not like he meant for this to happen. Why would he have intentionally done this? Sure, he knows that he has a bad habit of betting outside of his means and sometimes it works out for him…it’s just that sometimes, it doesn’t pay off. It was only a few games here and there, a few bad bets and a few interest payments on those bets that Greez fell a little behind on. He’d handled it though, or at least he thought he had. He hadn’t really expected Tormo himself to get involved, and he hadn’t foreseen Tormo putting a bloody bounty on the kid’s head and sending the Haxion Brood after them.

It’d been a simple transaction, confirm a little rumor going around and BAM! All debts washed clean, leaving them free to go off and save the galaxy. How was he supposed to know that Tormo would come after Cal once he got confirmation about what he was? He’d figured that Tormo could have cared less about the Jedi and that he’d be even less likely to incur the wrath or the attention of the Empire.

But he’d been wrong, and now the Haxion Brood had Cal.

_“You told them about Cal? What were you **thinking** Greez?” Cere had snapped when he confessed why the Haxion Brood might have taken the kid. _

_“I was thinking that we needed as few trails on our tail as we could get.” Greez tries to defend. “I was thinking that it was harmless information. So what if the kid is a Jedi, half of the galaxy is gonna figure that out soon anyways. I didn’t see any issue with just nodding. That’s all I did Cere. I promise. I didn’t tell them anything else, they just asked if it was true that a Jedi had been on board the Mantis and I nodded.”_

_“And they wiped your debt clean for that? And you didn’t think that was suspicious?”_

_“Hey, information is just as good as credits. I didn’t think it was a big deal. I didn’t mean for this to happen Cere.”_

_“But now it has, and if anything happens to him down there…” She trails off and its more powerful than if she’d tried to paint a picture because Greez knows what happens down there to those who get thrown into the ring. Shit, he’ll never forgive himself if something happens to the kid because he didn’t keep his big mouth shut._

They end up having to stay further back then Greez, or Cere for that matter, would have liked; mostly because they’re not the only ship trailing the bounty hunter. No, there’s an Imperial ship tight on its heels and Greez can’t get them too close least they get found out. It’s semi good news though, that means that the Empire hasn’t gotten their hands on the kid yet, but it’s bad news because Greez knows that Tormo will make a deal and sell Cal piece by piece if given half of the chance.

If they throw him into the ring, they’ll tear the kid apart and they’ll laugh and cheer the whole time that it happens. This was _never_ supposed to happen. The kid…Cal, didn’t deserve to be paraded around, tortured and killed for sport in front of a stadium of bloodthirsty ‘fans’. For the first time, Greez feels _guilty_ about all of those times that he’s been one of those fans, watching the games. How many people did he see thrown into the ring with those creatures? How many were there that didn’t have a choice about it? How many times had Greez cheered as they got bloodied and beaten to a pulp?

…Would he have cheered watching the vid of Cal if he hadn’t known the kid? The answer is a simple yes and it makes him sick to realize it.

“We need to get in there.” Cere says, and it’s the first words she’s said since their previous argument. “I’ll go in and try to get him out.”

“No go. We wait.” Greez says and she turns to him.

“What? Cal doesn’t have the time for that Greez! We have to-”

“You don’t get it.” Greez cuts her off. “Tormo won’t let the Inquisitors take off with Cal before they throw him in the ring for a few rounds.” He says. “He’d barter with the Emperor himself in order to get that show. I say let him; it’ll be Cal’s best chance.”

“You want to let them throw him into that ring? Are you hearing yourself Greez?”

“Look, I don’t like it either; but the kid is good and he’ll last. He just needs to last long enough for us to get into position. The main stadium has an opening, if we’re very careful we can pilot the Mantis into there and pick him up right from under their noses before they have a chance to throw anything at us. It’s just you and me, we’re not going to manage to get him out of there. This is our best chance.”

“It’s too risky.”

“It’s his best chance and ours.” Greez replies and Cere lets out an angry huff before turning back to the screens.

“Fine, we’ll hack the feeds…. hopefully they go easy on him for a few rounds.” She mutters the second half more to herself as she gets to work and Greez doesn’t have the heart to say that they won’t…they really won’t.

>|<

As annoying as waiting around with Sorc Tormo as company is, Trilla will give that it’s interesting to finally see the moment when Kestis wakes up in his cell and starts to take in the predicament that he’s currently in.

_“BD, where are we?...BD-1? Little buddy? Where are you?”_

Its strange to see that Kestis’s first concern is that pointless droid, even before he realizes that his weapon is missing. It’s informative to see him get right to work after that, the inner scrapper in him pulling off panels on the walls, revealing power cables and conduits before managing to rig up various surges in order to open doors and allow him to move about the areas. The video is informative, most of the surveillance that they have of Kestis is incomplete and shows only short bursts of action on his part. It’s made really nailing down his methodology and his habits difficult, but this? This is different. There isn’t a section of hallway that isn’t being monitored and recorded.

There’s a moment when Kestis could flee the holding area, all it would take is a few more crossed wires and he’d be at the ‘exit’ as it were, but he halts and turns around, going back into the deeper areas of the holding cells. She figures she shouldn’t really be surprised when she sees that he’s more focused on finding all of the cells in a desperate hope to locate his precious little droid. It’s intriguing, she’s not known many organics to risk themselves for any form of synthetic life. Maybe that’s why the droid had risked shutdown earlier trying to protect Kestis from them.

She watches as he climbs and searches, even offering aid to the other creature stuck down there who spits on his attempt. Tormo lets out an appreciative whistle at one point when Kestis climbs a cable with nothing but his upper body strength and then grabs onto a pipe before wrapping his legs around it and twisting in a smooth motion to get on top of it.

“I’d let him climb me with moves like that.” Tormo says and Trilla doesn’t respond to his inane commentary.

The reunion that happens between the two of them is so touching. Honest. It’s gag-inducing and it makes her want to sigh. Useless sentimentality, how unlike a Jedi. Then again, Kestis never was a good Jedi from what Trilla’s been able to figure out in their short acquaintance.

Kestis finally makes his way back to the ‘exit’ the moment he has his little metal backpack again and the show begins rather dramatically. Tormo gives a little speech, riling up the crowd up against the Jedi in the ring and Kestis stands there in the face of all of it with a solid, sure stance and a stubborn look in his eyes. It reminds Trilla of the old Jedi Knights from before the Purge, a strange thing to think about when looking at Kestis of all people.

“You shouldn’t have returned his lightsaber.” Trilla informs Tormo once he’s finished with his opening number, irritation clear in her voice and he waves off her warning like a fool.

“How else are people supposed to believe that he’s a Jedi?” He asks. “Its show business baby, sometimes you gotta give the actors the right props or nobody will believe it or want to watch it.”

“Giving him his lightsaber was a mistake.”

“Come now Inquisitor. He’s trapped here.” Tormo tells her. “Nowhere for him to go even if he were able to get out of there. Plus, you’re here. All of us verses babyface and that little droid? I’m not worried.”

“Then you’re a fool.” Trilla says, but she leans back a tiny amount to watch the show. Tormo is right to a point, there’s nowhere for Kestis to go when he inevitably gets out of the arena. When he escapes into the hallways, she’ll track him down and all of this will be over.

Tormo for his part doesn’t seem interested in leading up to anything, or maybe he understands that he’s playing with the growing ire of the Second Sister sitting next to him. He throws out dozens of creatures at Kestis right at the start with extreme glee. She’ll give that it’s impressive to watch the young would-have-been Jedi navigate his way around the arena, battling and flipping and using the Force to maintain a level of control over his environment in order to avoid being overrun by the creature’s superior numbers. He puts on a good show for the watchers. His movements are precise and has the dancer’s grace that a lot of Jedi used to have in battle. He flows between the groups: rolling, diving, twisting and flipping through the smallest of openings before unleashing a flurry of attacks that are almost too fast to keep track of. This must have been what Tapal and the Council saw in the younger Kestis before the Purge. He’s extremely gifted and naturally in tune with the Force on a level that Trilla knows that many Jedi struggle to reach.

She wonders if that’s a byproduct of his psychometry power. She has been curious after all how such an ability would work and how it would either benefit or hinder a Jedi in the making. Kestis is making quite a spectacle of himself right now, putting on a good show and proving the reason why the Jedi were such a threat to the burgeoning Empire. After all, if this is what one untrained Padawan can do, then imagine what a fully-fledged Jedi Knight could have done in his place?

He’ll make a powerful and terrifying Inquisitor; of that she has no doubts about anymore. She might have once, when her only image of Kestis was the injured scrapper full of fear and at the end of his rope on Bracca; but this version? This version was a prize that she wouldn’t mind handing over to Lord Vader.

The arrival of the wyyyschokk that gets thrown into the arena after Tormo figures that the crowd is growing bored of watching the Jedi hack his way through the tiny, stupid creatures allows for an interesting reaction from Kestis. He seems to take some sort of offense to it, and he’s rather determined to keep as much distance between himself and it for a while as he clears out the other threats before facing off against the giant creature.

The exasperatedly disgusted face that Kestis makes when he manages to leap over the spider like creature and slice open it’s back, letting all of the slimy guts ooze out and some of them to get on him is almost priceless and it pulls a small amused smirk out of her. Although it’s not nearly as entertaining as the surprised, wide eyed reaction that he has seconds later when something else tries to launch itself at him and he’s forced to throw himself back and get his mind back into the fight.

“Isn’t this fun?” Tormo asks her and she doesn’t look at him, continuing to just stare at the windows that show her the arena and the close-up vids of Kestis as he runs around.

“If Kestis is permanently harmed Tormo…”

“Don’t worry Inquisitor.” Tormo is quick to cut her off and she considers taking his tongue for it. “Each of those creatures down there has a shock implant imbedded inside of them. When he finally falls, we’ll trigger them and get them off of him.” He looks at her. “Then we’ll clean him up for you. Hell, I’ll even put a pretty, big bow on him for you. My gift to you. Give me a little credit, you worry too much.”

“And you don’t seem to understand the gravity of what you’re dealing with. If your carelessness costs the Emperor that Jedi then he will be _very_ displeased.” She puts the weight of the threat of such a displeasure into her voice and for the first time Tormo finally looks a little unsure about the continuation of what’s going on down there.

“It won’t. Here, we’ll go into the final fight and then you can take baby with you.” He stands and talks into the mic once more, revealing the final challenger into the arena. “This fight will be over soon.”

“So sure, are you?” Trilla asks as she just sits there.

“Of course I am. He’s just fought over a few dozen creatures. He’ll falter.”

“He doesn’t look very tired to me.” She points out and it’s amusing to see Tormo look back at the screen. “Careful that you don’t underestimate a Jedi, Tormo.”

“It’s one _boy_.” Tormo says. “Trust me, I’ve been doing this for a long time. This fight is almost over, the curtain will be falling soon and then you two can get off my station.”

>|<

Cal doesn’t think he’s ever been so grateful to see the Mantis arrive as he is right now. Sure, it’s probably a close tie to seeing the Mantis pull up back on Bracca, but back then he hadn’t actually known who those people were or what they wanted. This time though? This time he knows that they’re here for him and that the Mantis is safety and is here to rescue him and BD from this horrible place.

He can hear Tormo yelling threats and orders as he dives for the ramp. There’s a feeling of the Force being used and he turns around in time to see the window up above crack and he can see the figure of Trilla standing there. He stares in her direction for a moment, undoubtedly mimicking her own gaze before he turns and enters the ship, only letting out a breath of relief once they’ve pulled away from that terrible place.

“Hey Greez. You’re famous down there.” Cal says as a greeting and he gives the other a look and Greez’s face crumples for a moment into something so guilty looking. Cere tries to pretend that everything is fine now, that now that Cal is back everything can just resume as it had been.

“I had an interesting talk with the Second Sister…or should I say Trilla?” He’s watching her face as he says the name and it tells him everything he needs to know. Trilla wasn’t lying. That really was her.

“What did she tell you?” Is what Cere asks instead of apologizing and coming clean like Cal was secretly begging her to do. No, she wanted to know what Cal ‘knew’ now so that she could still control the information that he knew.

“She said you betrayed her to the Empire.”

“She’d say anything to jeopardize this mission.”

“Is it true?” Cal isn’t used to raising his voice, but the question comes out harshly and Cere still tries to brush it away. Like it was something that was already done with. But it wasn’t, not when Trilla was the one hunting them. Cere’s old Padawan.

“We’re getting an encrypted message from Kashyyyk.” Greez cuts in and there’s so much frustration and hurt inside of Cal but he pushes it down in order to go talk to Mari. Tarrful has been found, the mission is back on track.

“Later.” Cere tries to assure him when he looks at her for answers and he nods.

“Yeah, _later_.” He repeats.


	7. Chapter 7

Things have been a little… _tense_ on the Mantis for lack of word to describe it. The once calming ship has turned into something that feels too small and makes Cal have moments reminiscent of claustrophobia at random times of the day. He tries to stay back in his area as much as possible, but it’s not something that’s sustainable for the long periods of time that they’re on the ship. It’s impossible not to run into the other two anytime he leaves his area, sliding around them in just basic day to day activities and the like. Once upon a time such closeness didn’t really bother Cal…now though? Now he doesn’t know how to deal with the constant feelings of isolation even as he sits across from them at the small table.

Greez for the most part seems determined to pretend like nothing is wrong. He does his best to try and fill in the silences that can stretch out between them, but Cal often catches him falling into lapses of uncomfortable moments himself where he’ll look back and forth between the two Jedi on the ship who haven’t really spoken to each other since Cal’s rescue.

Well, no. That’s not true. They’re talking, if someone wants to call their stilted conversations about ship repairs, the terrarium, dinner choices, or what supplies they need to stock up on at the next port, ‘talking’. It’s uncomfortable and awkward at it’s best of times and at the worst its something so much more broken. Cal tries, he really does. He tries to put in the effort to make sure that Cere knows that he’s still signed on for the mission, it’s just that…something is damaged between them and Cal’s not sure how to begin even trying to fix it.

Cere lied to him. She _lied_.

He feels like such a visceral reaction over something so petty is almost childish and unbecoming of a Jedi; but no matter how much Cal tries to push away how he feels about it, he can’t seem to manage. Truthfully, he’s not angry about the lie itself. He gets it, or at least he figures that he gets it as much as someone who doesn’t really know what it’s like to go through that sort of event can get it. Cal may not know what it’s like to be tortured intentionally just for being what he is, but he does understand shame. He gets that there are things that people aren’t ready to face, things that they all keep locked up inside of themselves because of fear or any other number of reasons which he has learned are each as valid as the last. Cere didn’t need to tell him everything about her capture, he doesn’t need nor is he entitled to the story, after all he hasn’t told either of them about Master Tapal’s final moments. He hasn’t been forthcoming about his own darkness and his own weakness and failings as a Padawan. He’s spent the last five years burying it so far down inside of himself so that it might never see the light of day again, and so he gets it.

But even with that, he told Cere what she needed to know about it. She needed to know that what happened that day damaged his connection to the Force. She didn’t need specifics, but that was vital information. She should have told him about Trilla being an Inquisitor.

He wouldn’t have pried; he wouldn’t have asked for more clarification; but he shouldn’t have been blindsided by it. So no, he’s not distancing himself from Cere because of the specific lie that she told him, he’s pulling away because she lied in general and she did it so easily. He’s pulling away because she looked him in the eye and didn’t flinch as she told him something that was completely fake. He’s pulling away because he’s angry. He’s angry that it happened for no real reason, she didn’t need to lie but she had. He’s angry that he didn’t sense it and that he had no clue, running around ignorant. He’s angry that someone who was his enemy showed him the truth, that even with her ulterior motives she’d treated him with more respect then Cere had. He’s angry at what it’s done to them. He’s angry that now he can’t help but have a little voice in the back of his mind that wonders if Cere’s telling him the whole truth with each thing she tells him. He’s angry that he doesn’t know how to trust her anymore, not with the blind sort of devotion that he’d given her before.

He’s also angry that she’d known he’d given her that trust. The trust of a Padawan to a Master and that she’d used it to obscure the truth and keep him in the dark. What else has she deigned to not tell him in order to move him along the path that she’s chosen for them? Cere shouldn’t have looked Cal in the eyes and tell him a bald-faced lie because now he doesn’t know how to differentiate the truth from the falsehoods anymore.

 _That’s_ what Cal’s having a hard time getting past. That’s what Greez doesn’t understand when he practically tells Cal that now isn’t the time for division between them; but how can they be a cohesive force if Cere can find it easy to look at him, to hold his gaze and to tell him something that wasn’t even in the slightest bit true. It makes Cal wonder how many times has she done it outside of that. One? Five? Every single time with everything she’s ever told him?

_“Is that who you want beside you when you find the holocron?”_

Trilla’s question is a dangerous one, and yet it’s been on repeat in Cal’s mind every night since their fight. It’s something that he would have never considered pre-Trilla, but now? Now it’s the only thing he can think about and he hates that.

_“She chose self-interest. She’ll sell you out too.”_

Cal lies in his bed, looking up at the ceiling as he tries to figure out what he’s supposed to do. Even if he had wanted to put a pause on this mission, he can’t. The Empire is too fascinated with the Zeffo tombs now and they’re nipping too closely at their heels. Cal won’t risk the lives of those children…but is trusting Cere with the information on the holocron _also_ risking them? If she’s truly turned, if she’s truly opened herself up to the dark side then shouldn’t Cal keep her as far away from those younglings as possible?

_“Granting her access to a legion of impressionable students.”_

What Cal told Trilla was the truth. He wouldn’t let anyone harm those children, not while he still drew breath; but he can’t help but obsess over Trilla’s words and they unsettle him. There are more dangers to those children than just the physical and isn’t Cal responsible for all of it if he pulls them from their homes? Can he even protect them if he can’t even be sure that he can trust the people standing beside him in this fight?

He lets out a frustrated sigh and rolls onto his side as he closes his eyes. He tries to call out to the Force for clarity and guidance when sleep evades him once again, but as always, he gets nothing but silence back in return.

>|<

She should have told him; she knows that now. She should have been forthcoming back on Bogano that first time when BD-1 had revealed that Cal was the one that they had all been waiting for. She should have said something other than what she did. She’d just figured that there’d be more time, more time to find the right words or to figure out how to explain what she did as thoroughly as she could…but the time had run out and the words had never manifested.

Looking back, she knows now that it was just cowardice. Looking back she realized that she liked how Cal looked at her, looked to her for guidance and support and how she’d feared that it would go away if he knew the truth about what she’d done.

Master Cordova had always warned her that her need to play things close to the chest would cause her much grief and strife in her life. That even the best of intentions when improperly handled could create walls and barriers where there might not have needed to be any. She can see those walls surrounding Cal now. He shies away from her now, and he doesn’t seek her opinion on anything anymore. He pretends to, he says the words and he nods when he’s supposed to like he’s taking what she’s said into consideration, but it’s all fake. She can see how sometimes his eyes search her, like he’s looking for something beyond what she’s saying and she knows that this thing between them is horribly damaged.

And it’s all her fault. Trilla might have been the one to say the words that Cere should have said, but in the end it all comes back to Cere and Cere’s bad choices. Cere’s choices lost her Trilla, and now Cere’s choices have closed off Cal to her, possibly for good.

“Just apologize and say that you won’t do it again.” Greez says to her when they land on Bogano to wait out Tarfful’s availability. Cal’s done amazing work. He’s managed to accomplish so much and Cere is so proud of him, she knows that Jaro would be too. She hadn’t met Cal when he was a young Padawan, but she had known Jaro and she’d known of him. Jaro had always spoken so highly of the little Jedi-to-be, laughing when the other Masters would say that he treated the young Padawan more like a son then like a student.

_“What’s so wrong with that? We cannot only be firm with them. We are not just their teachers. Children need to know that they can trust you, and that you are not the enemy. It’s a fragile line to walk, but as Master’s we must be diligent. Something broken can be repaired, but it can never be undone.”_

Funny, Cere feels like Jaro’s words that day are a lesson that she should have taken to heart and paid more attention to. Now she stands here with his Padawan and she’s unsure how to proceed. Especially about the holocron. She’s noticed how Cal’s eyes shift away from her when they bring it up in discussion. She’s also noticed how he tries to shift the conversation to almost anything else each time she tries to help him plan out the future.

Trilla got to him down in that tomb.

She always was good with words, and good with finding the weak spots in her opponents’ armor; and now it looks like she’s worked that magic on Cal. If only Cere hadn’t made it so easy for her. Mari’s message that it’s clear for the meeting to take place finally comes in and Greez takes them back to Kashyyyk with all haste and Cere notices how Cal exits the ship with a goodbye but no backwards glance.

Cordova would be so disappointed in her if he could see what was happening right now.

“Be careful Cal.” She calls out after him and he gives her a small nod, not stopping to turn and give her a reassuring smile or tell her that he’s got BD watching his back like he used to do and she sighs.

“Hey, are you and the kid going to be okay?” Greez asks and Cere’s heard him ask Cal similar questions with no concrete answers being given and she shakes her head.

“I don’t know Greez, but there’s nothing I can do about that right now.” She looks over at Cal as he turns a corner and disappears out of sight. “What we can do is track Imperial signals and try to make sure that no one gets the drop on him. Not if we could have prevented it.” She turns around and walks back up the ramp of the ship, hearing Greez mutter worriedly about the two stubborn fools on this ship with him.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the reviews! They help keep the creative juices flowing!  
>  **Warnings**  
>  Torture, Past Referenced Torture, Imagined Non-Con

It wasn’t hard to know that she was walking into a situation that might be the end of her life if she handled it even the slightest bit wrong. Lord Vader did not appreciate setbacks, a thing that he usually worked out his frustrations on those responsible to mostly deadly results and now Trilla has to kneel before him and explain how Kestis was in her grasp and how he still managed to get away.

How she let him get away because she was concerned with _politics_.

The other Inquisitor’s have set themselves up around the outer edges of the room and she can practically feel them snickering at her predicament. She’s sure they’re just filled with glee now that she’s failed again. After all, each of them would gladly sabotage each other in any hope to gain more favor or acquire a higher station than their own and Trilla’s very possible immediate demise will certainly open up the ‘Second Sister’ role for someone else to step into.

She steps into the area with sure steps, holding the data files she’s pulled together on the way over close to her chest as she kneels before Vader.

_“ **I grow weary of your incompetence, Inquisitor.”**_ Vader says and Trilla keeps her head bowed low. **_“I am curious to learn how you lost the Jedi and why you come before me with nothing.”_**

“I ask for your forgiveness, my lord.” Trilla says. “At the time, I did not see a reason to refuse Tormo’s offer. The Haxion Brood has been mostly silent in the sector as of late and I sought to maintain that. I see now that I was mistaken in what my first priority should have been.” Vader takes a step towards her, a simple thing filled with so much menace, and she holds up the data files. “But I did not come to you with nothing.” There’s a pause before she feels the item taken from her and she can only see Vader’s boots and the bottom of his cape. He could and would strike her down without a moment’s hesitation. There’s a moment of silence before one of the audio files that she recorded from her conversations with Kestis plays.

_‘It doesn’t matter what you find, you’ll never understand it.’ ‘And you do?’ ‘You’ll find out soon enough.’ ‘I’ll take that chance.’_

**_“Explain.”_ **

“The Emperor has restarted Project Auger and yet for all of our resources, our scientists have made little to no progress on the Zeffonian relics. When I crossed paths with Kestis at the tomb he implied that he had some sort of understanding about the Zeffo that we did not possess. I paid it little mind, considering it pointless arrogance from a Jedi Padawan outside of his league; but through my research I believe that I have found something that tells me differently.”

**_“Continue.”_ **

“I believe that Kestis’s psychometry power in the Force is allowing him to be perceived by the tombs as Zeffonian, Due to the Jedi’s inherent fear of such an ability there is almost no concrete data about such a gift in the Force. I have come to believe that his interactions with the leftover lifeforce of the civilization has made it to where he interacts with the tombs in a way that we have not understood to. After our meeting on Zeffo I was able to follow his progress through the tomb, curious to see what he would do. He seems to know things that he should not, but most importantly how to interact with the tomb itself and how to restore it. We have been on Zeffo for over a year with no results and yet in less than a few hours Kestis raised the spire.”

**_“And yet you still let him get away.”_ **

“I did, and for that I have no excuse my lord.” Trilla says. “After coming to the conclusion that I did about his potential; I did not want him truly harmed, nor did I want to interfere in his progress. He was determined to raise the spire for his own reasons and I saw no reason to prevent him from doing so since it was something the Emperor desired as well. The arrival of the bounty hunter was an unexpected complication that I should have been prepared for. I believe that the data from the match however yielded interesting information. Kestis has shown not only powerful abilities in the force, but his progress in such a short amount of time is impressive as well. He is still raw, but there is so much potential there. I have seen his progress firsthand, unhindered, and it has not been disappointing.”

**_“That does not explain why I shouldn’t cut you down now for your failure to produce Kestis.”_ **

“I have unsettled him, my lord.” She says. “I have led him to doubt his companions, namely my old master, by revealing our shared history. I believe I can get to him, get under his skin, make him reckless. I do not doubt that he can no longer see me as just an Inquisitor and I believe that could help us catch him.”

**_“Your connection to your old master, if properly wielded, is a powerful tool to be used…”_** Vader says, looking at the datapad and making a thoughtful noise to himself. **_“Very well Inquisitor. I will grant you one more chance. Do not fail me again or I will not be so lenient.”_**

“Yes, my lord.” She says, bowing her head a little bit more before getting up and leaving the room immediately least he change his mind about being so magnanimous.

“So you’ve held off the executioner’s axe once again.” Ninth Sister chuckles when they cross each other in the hallways. “Doubt you’ll be so lucky again.”

“I won’t need luck.”

“You sure about that? You’ve failed to catch this runt several times now.”

“Kestis is proving himself to be…resourceful.” Trilla responds to that and Ninth Sister laughs.

“Careful Second Sister, you’re almost starting to sound like you respect him.”

“There’s nothing about a Jedi that deserves to be respected.” She retorts and Ninth Sister smirks.

“Ah, but he’s not even a Jedi. He’s just a Padawan, and he’s running circles around you. Are you going soft on him?”

“Hardly.” Trilla spits out as she walks away from Ninth. “Prepare my ship, we depart for Kashyyyk.” She tells one of the stormtroopers close to her and they salute her and rush off to do as she’s commanded. Ninth ends up coming aboard, the two of them being assigned together again.

“It’ll be just like Bracca. You, me and the rat.” Ninth laughs and Trilla does her best to ignore her. She’s a powerful Inquisitor but too much of a blunt object to really be of much use outside of bludgeoning. Something that she does well and enjoys doing. Trilla pays her little to no mind, as per usual, instead using the entire ship journey to meditate and focus on Kestis. On his movement and his motives. For being so pathetically basic, she’ll give him that he is…intriguing in some way.

The assault on the Refinery when they arrive lasts even less time than the initial Partisan attack. It’s almost insulting how these half-starved, half-exhausted fools with unsteady blaster aim managed to even do as much damage as they did. Perhaps she’s not given Kestis enough credit here, it’s clear now that without him there to pave the way for their success that they would have all perished in that fight as they will now that he’s not here to come to their aid. A few of the rebels manage to flee out into the shadowlands and Trilla doesn’t bother to chase them, she has more than enough captured to learn what she wishes to know and to leave a message for Kestis when he undoubtedly returns. Ninth thinks he won’t, but Trilla’s certain of it. Whatever he came here for, he didn’t get, which means he’ll be back. Just like he went back to Zeffo.

“I’m looking for a Jedi Padawan.” Trilla tells the group of rebels as they shake and glare on their knees before her. “I know he’s been here, and for that you will all suffer.” She uses a Force hold to choke the life out of the one that’s the most injured and the most terrified. This will be the one she leaves for Kestis to find. Let him know what his ‘heroics’ have done to those left behind. “However, I am not unreasonable. Whoever gives me the information that I want will be allowed to go.” She lets that settle in. “I give my word. You will not be harmed. You will be given a ship and freedom to go fight on another day.” She looks at them all. “Failure to provide said information though will result in your horrible and tragic demise.” Ninth chuckles cruelly for effect. “Now.” She walks over to the one at the end. “What was the Jedi doing here?” She watches the stubborn look settle into their eyes. “I see. It appears some…incentive is required.” She reaches out with the Force and twists their bones around, listening to them crack as they’re moved in ways they shouldn’t be and the rebel screams. She stops after a bit. “Now, let’s try this again. What was the Jedi doing here?” The rebel spits at her boots and she sighs. Yet again, someone willing to throw their life away to protect Kestis. “I see, I’ll take that as your final answer.” She slices them down, an incomplete slash that will let them choke and suffer for a while before death takes them. She moves on to the next as the pained cries of the first echo around them. “Understand, one of you will tell me. It’s only a matter of _when_. Do the smart thing, and save yourself.” She goes through a few more before she kneels down to one of the last ones in this group. This one is young, maybe even close to Kestis’s own age. “…Cal Kestis would not want you to throw your life away for this. Whatever you know, he would want you to tell us if it saved you.” The rebel gives her a look that’s trying to be strong and disbelieving, but it’s mostly just fear. “Oh yes, I know Kestis. We’ve crossed paths several times. I may not agree with him and his stance, but I do know him. Probably better than you do, and I have seen firsthand how badly he takes watching others die for him.” Her voice is almost kind, it’s all a lie. “Tell me why he was here. He’s already left, it’s useless information.”

“If it’s so useless then why do you want it?”

“To make a timeline.” Trilla replies. “Even Inquisitor’s have to deal with dreaded paperwork. We know he’s been here; we just need to be able to fill out why on the dotted line and move on.” She pretends to joke. She knows that she’s getting to this one, they’re so scared, they’ll talk. “There are dozens of your compatriots here, not to mention large numbers of Wookiees. Tell me what I want to know or I will have to burn them all to the ground to make sure that this Refinery wasn’t the thing he needed. All of those deaths that could have been avoided will be on your hands.” She can see the moment they crack. “Good choice. Why was Kestis here?”

“He was looking for Tarfful.” The kid says. “But no one knew where he was.”

“Has anyone found Tarfful since?”

“I don’t know.” He says.

“Did he say _why_ he was looking for Tarfful?” She asks and he shakes his head.

“I don’t know, I swear I don’t know.” He practically begs and Trilla nods.

“Don’t worry. I believe you. Very well, you’ve done good.” She pats them on the cheek before standing and with a smooth motion she separates their head from their body and then reclips the lightsaber to her hip. “Scatter the bodies throughout the Refinery in corners and near any openings or vents.” She commands and Ninth snorts as the stormtroopers get to work. “Not that one.” She says, pointing to the first. “That one I want spread in pieces on the various landing zones. If a ship could land there, then I want a part of them waiting for them.”

“How unlike you.” Ninth laughs as they leave. “A little macabre for your tastes isn’t it?”

“Kestis has the ability to perceive and experience things in the Force. He’ll be drawn to figure out what happened when he sees them. I want him to know and I want him to _feel_ it. Their terror, their hopelessness and their pain. I want him to know what’s coming for him and I want him to know that this happened to them because of him and his interference here.”

“I like the way you think.” Ninth chuckles as they move about the Refinery to restore previous operations. “I doubt we need to leave a large crew here. The rebels have written this place off, they won’t attack again.”

“Kestis will return. Perhaps one of the troopers will get lucky.”

“He won’t come back.”

“He didn’t get what he came for. He’ll be back.” Trilla replies and Ninth shakes her head. Trilla knows that she’s been going behind her back, reporting on her and contradicting her at every turn to those higher in command. It doesn’t worry her, she’ll catch Kestis eventually and then Ninth will just have to settle with the knowledge that there’s a reason why Trilla is Second.

She’s not at all surprised that she dreams of Kestis at night, considering how much of her waking hours are spent obsessing around the Jedi Padawan. She dreams of Kestis tied down to an Imperial torture chair like she once was. She dreams of him screaming and begging for mercy like she did, only for Trilla to laugh like those who tortured her had. She dreams of putting her hand on his throat and squeezing until he can’t breathe, of making him look at her with those terrified eyes as he begs her for mercy with them like he had back on Bracca. She dreams that she mocks him as he tries to twist away from her, his back suddenly against the sheets of her bed as she pushes down on him and smirks as he begs for her to stop. She dreams that she leans down and swallows the tortured whimpers from his lips as he struggles against the movement of her hips and the inevitable –

Trilla snaps awake in her ship, yanking herself out of the dream as if burned. Where the hell did _that_ come from?

>|<

She’s a monster. That’s the only answer for what Cal’s found since they’ve returned to Kashyyyk. Little tokens of the Second Sister’s mind games with him, messages that she’s leaving for him that he can’t help but interact with at various points around the Refinery as he makes his way through.

BD-1 keeps a constant checkup on him after each one when his hands shake and his breath comes out tighter at the wash of fear and pain. Maybe the Jedi were on to something when they smothered this ability of his, maybe they understood that the mind can only take so much; but his abilities have been growing and have been helping him stay alive…and he can’t help but wonder if the echoes and the things they bring with them are Cal’s payment for using the power.

Mari gives him the coordinates for the meetup and Cal does his best to rush through the area without leaving any trace that he’s been there. It makes for slow progress in some areas, and in others it makes for absolutely terrifying acts of acrobatics on his part, but he gets out to the shadowlands with minimal problems. The world outside of the Refinery feels different, and it’s not just that its outside of the Imperial control. Everything about this forest is alive, and the echoes he feels from the tree feel like cool balms as opposed to the echoes he was getting before.

The spider creatures though are still as annoying as ever. He’s really not a fan. He also spends half of the time after meeting Tarfful swimming down by the roots of the Origin Tree and he can’t help but wonder when he’s going to get attacked by something else as he dives deeper and climbs higher. BD’s scans keep him alerted to most of the dangers of the Wookiee forest – he’s still really concerned about the giant pads that keep eating stormtroopers and the strange flowers that seem to pull away from the vines to slowly creep after him.

“I see the Jedi. Inform the Inquisitor.” One of the Purge troopers that he’s unable to avoid says into their comm and Cal inwardly smacks himself. He should have been faster; and maybe…maybe he should have taken them out before the call could be sent. If Trilla returns to this planet then who knows what she’ll do to the Wookiees who helped him this time. He’s not ashamed to admit that he’d completely forgotten that there were other Inquisitor’s that might be called upon. The Ninth Sister steps out of the ship and stares him down and all he can see is Prauf dying and this woman tossing him over the edge for a moment.

“I told the Grand Inquisitor that you wouldn’t be stupid enough to show your face here again. Not after we wiped out that feeble resistance.” She mocks him. “Love it when I’m wrong.” She goes back inside and he knows long before the first shot comes that this next part is going to be a doozy.

He’s not wrong.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I feel like Cal's single minded focus on the holocron makes sense if you don't give a lot of time for the entirety of the game taking place, not a lot of time to really take a second and think things through but since I'm lengthening how long between events I wanted to give Cal a moment to really start to take stock of what it really means to be on this quest and the cost/price of it.  
> So there's definitely some AU changes happening here.  
> Plus MERRIN HAS ARRIVED!!!!

One thing that is easy to admit, Kashyyyk is as beautiful as it is dangerous. It’s been so many years since Cal’s had the luxury of seeing something as simple as grass and trees, after all Bracca was not a lush land if it ever had been, and even though he’s been to Zeffo and Bogano neither of them can even hold a candle to Kashyyyk. It’s no wonder the Wookiees love it so much and why it’s considered one of the ‘jewel’ planets. The higher that Cal climbs the Origin Tree, the more and more breathless he becomes. Most of it is from awe and not so much the thinner atmosphere that these levels contain, although the air is certainly a concern as he strains himself and struggles to pull in full breaths.

The attack from the Ninth Sister and her ship has ended Cal in a location that he doesn’t know, didn’t plan to go to, and doesn’t know how to even begin getting back to where he was, but oddly he’s not that worried. The tree around him is alive, and if he’s calm and quiet enough, he can hear the soft echoes of pathways once taken by so many others. He will admit that he’s a little exhausted, he’s never used the Force as much as he had to during the flight from the Ninth Sister’s ship, throwing and propelling himself further and higher than he ever has before, launching himself over and over again with Force pushes and pulls into new sections of dirt and roots in an ever growing desperate climb to avoid being gunned down. Cal figures that he’s a little lucky that he spent the last five years growing up in a ship scrap yard on Bracca, climbing his own deadly maze of metal and certain death which has undoubtedly given him the skills and calm needed to maintain his balance and his cool as he navigates each branch and vine that he’s forced to put his trust in as he climbs higher. Always higher. To be honest, he’d thought that he’d be more scared, walking across various branches over giant empty drops, but he’s rather pleased to find out that his self-preservation instincts have quite clearly exited the building.

…. Wait…on second thought, that might not be a good thing.

He struggles with the urge to call Cere a few times, but each time his fingers have started to reach for the comms, something holds him back. BD’s beeped at him in curiosity a couple of times, noting the strange aborted movements and Cal’s shrugged it off mostly. He’s not really sure how to explain this almost childish need to be the one withholding information from her this time, but regardless of the reason behind it he comes up with at least five reasons why he shouldn’t risk it. Most of them, if not all of them, start and end with the Ninth Sister and her scouts who are undoubtedly still scouring the area for him after that giant bird creature took them out.

Cal owes that bird his life, of that he has no doubts, and while he’s uncertain when BD and him cross it later; he can’t leave it injured and basically set to die without their intervention. They approach it carefully, with Cal keeping his voice as calm and light as he can as he comes closer. The creature is radiating pain and fear and Cal holds out his hands and reaches into the Force in an attempt to calm it down. Its something Master Tapal taught him once upon a time, a sub-ability close to what the Jedi do when influencing minds. Cal was always rather adept at it, being naturally very empathic by nature and the pushing of emotions instead of actual thoughts always felt…he doesn’t know, less invasive and less likely to take away another’s agency? He’d never been much of a fan of the mind control abilities, sticking instead to something that the other side could ignore or overrule if they so pleased.

The bird senses Cal’s intentions towards it and it lays its head down in an obvious assent. Its return emotions remind Cal of the boggling from Bogano’s reaction to his energy and he almost laughs at the sudden thought of trying to hide this giant bird on the Mantis like he had the little creature that had decided to pack up and move onto the ship. He does feel a little bad moments later when he’s forced to pull the piece of the ship from its wing before he can use the stim on it. Thankfully, the shyyyo bird seems to understand because it sends back nothing but a massive feeling of gratitude for Cal’s and BD’s help. Even going so far as to offer to take Cal to the very center of the Origin Tree as repayment.

If he thought that he’d been high up before, then he was mistaken. It holds nothing on riding on the back of the shyyyo and seeing the whole of Kashyyyk spread out below him. It’s…there are no words.

“There’s still so much the Empire hasn’t touched.” Cal says to BD as he looks down at the miles and miles of green as far as the eye can see. There’s a certain hopefulness in the view and in that realization, an understanding that Saw was wrong. Kashyyyk is not lost. Look at how much of it still stands. The Refinery plant is practically a speck in the face of all of this. He wonders how many tribes of Wookiees there are down there, how many whose lives haven’t even been impacted by the Empire on their planet yet. He’s almost sad when they land, flying that high outside of a ship had felt like freedom; but he has a mission to do and so he gives a smile and thanks to his new friend as he heads out to locate the breadcrumbs of Cordova’s message about Dathomir.

There’s an obvious excitement in the recording of Cordova as he holds out the Astrium in his hands and speaks of his gratefulness to Tarfful. He also gives the next piece of the puzzle, where the other Astrium is located. Cal wishes that he could feel excitement in the information but he pauses for a second after the recording dies away and he can’t help the considerations about how easily this information could have been lost to them. What if Tarfful had been dead when Cal had first come to Kashyyyk? What then? How would the person who came after Cordova ever have learned about the Origin Tree and discover the next part of the puzzle? It all seems…kind of sloppy. Once he’d considered how foolish the waste of time had been, now he considers how easily all of this could have fallen apart. Cordova was able to ascertain the destruction of the Jedi and the fall of the Jedi Order, enough to take steps to prevent it even in the face of disbelief from the Jedi Council….yet all of the pieces that he put into play to lead to the end goal were terrifyingly fleeting or easily destroyed and lost. What if the Empire had already dismantled Zeffo before getting BD to all of the locations? What if Kashyyyk had already fallen, the forests destroyed forevermore? What hope would have been left then? What path would they have followed? Did Cordova plan for those possible eventualities? Or had he done his part and then put his faith in the Force to see it through?

The Ninth Sister’s return brings forth a sort of burning fire in Cal’s chest as he sees his new friend hurt and he pulls out his lightsaber. He’s done with her; he’s so beyond done with these people who think that they can just terrorize whole worlds.

“I don’t know what’s got everyone thinking you’re so special.” The Ninth Sister sneers at him as she looks him over. It’s clear that she underestimates him and he’ll only have this chance to use that to his advantage. Their fight isn’t as complicated as fighting Trilla is. Trilla is all skill and deadly strikes whereas the Ninth Sister is all brute strength and barreling into him. “Not bad for trash.” She says after they’ve broken from their duel for a moment’s reprieve.

“What about for a Jedi?”

“Is there a difference?” She asks as she attacks again and again. “You know; it’ll be fun to take you in.” The Ninth says as she stands and Cal finds himself almost wishing that she’d stayed down, that she’d yielded when he’d clearly won the fight. If she’d stayed down when he’d taken her hand, he has no doubts that he would have let her go. The weird thing is, he feels like she knew that too and still she chose to attack. “Watch you crack like the rest of us.” He’s gotten similar sentiments, light echoes from Trilla that mimic that thought process. Is that what this was all about? Doing onto others what was done to them? Passing on that hatred and that pain? What for?

He makes it back to the Mantis with good time, knowing that the death of the Ninth Sister will probably only put them even higher on the Empire’s shit list and they need to get out of here now. Greez isn’t too happy about flying to Dathomir and Cere seems unable to figure out how to even begin speaking to Cal normally again and Cal almost wishes that they were back before Trilla’s reveal because he has so many questions and so much confusion about where this path is leading them. He’s been following the road map according to Cere and Cordova, but what if they’re wrong? What if that’s not how it’s supposed to play out?

 _“Trust only in the Force.”_ Master Tapal’s words are a familiar sentiment, something echoed by almost every teacher or knight that Cal remembers ever having a chance to meet and yet as he lies in his room, he can’t help but consider the fact that this world that they’re living in now was permitted by the Force, wasn’t it? The death of the Jedi was permitted by it too. How was Cal supposed to give his full trust over to an energy source that was at its base nature unknowable and unfathomable to him? Something so easily thrown out of balance and tainted, something that arguably betrayed its most ardent followers?

Or did it? How would Cal know either way? How would anyone?

He remembers talk about the Force being out of balance before, back during his Padawan and Initiate years and he’d never fully questioned it. If the Master’s said that the Force was out of balance and that it was a bad thing, then who was Cal to argue with them? But after his time on Bracca, Cal can’t help but look at the whole situation in a new light, one from outside of the protective circle of approved Jedi thoughts. How could they discuss a desire for balance if their entire Order refused to allow and actively hunted down the other side? How could there ever be balance in the face of the Jedi’s full domination over the Force? Was it possible that they misstepped and was it possible that their own destruction had come not from the Empire but from their own abuse of the Force? Didn’t all of those discussions show an inherent misunderstanding of how balance worked? A confusion about the very nature of it? How was something that was purely one thing when it was supposed to be two be balanced? Wouldn’t it require more of the second side to even out the scales?

He remembers Master Yoda giving a lesson on that subject once, but he can’t seem to remember what was said, and truth be told…he’s not even sure if he’d buy it anymore. The young Padawan who had known nothing but the Jedi’s teachings might have taken it for face value, but the survivor that he’d become required something more.

It’s strange that he doesn’t remember ever really giving thought to questions like this before, but as the days grow closer to when he might find the holocron and place himself as a guide over a group of children eager to learn, he’s been forced to consider things he never has. And he’s come to the absolutely horrifying realization of how little he actually knows. Can he teach them the ways of the Force? The ways of the Jedi? Sure he can, he remembers most of it and what he doesn’t…Cere knows; but…what if they’re wrong? What if Cordova’s wrong? What if the Jedi were meant to end? All things have their time and place and all things must come to an end, it’s a lesson he remembers learning from the Jedi so why didn’t it cover this as well? Was it because the Order was ended forcibly? Or was it because they couldn’t let go of what once was? Was it really all that good? Would it be best? Was it what was best before?

 _“Is there a difference?”_ There’s something about the casual nature of the Ninth Sister’s hatred for the Jedi that bothers Cal and it doesn’t leave him even as her death stops resonating in the Force. She was a Jedi once, by her own admission, so how does someone start to feel so strongly against something they once believed in? Was all of that just the torture? After all, she must have believed in the Jedi Order once, long before the Empire came in and twisted up everything inside of her, and that leads Cal down a different line of thought. What is the point of it all? The reason behind it? What was the point of Inquisitors made from ex-Jedi? Why use the Jedi at all? Cal doesn’t doubt that there would be Force users who would believe in the Empire the way that the new stormtrooper groups did. Why did the Emperor or whoever this ‘Grand Inquisitor’ person was, focus on breaking Jedi? Was it for entertainment value? Proving just how easily one can become a Sith? Was it just a byproduct of hatred and a want to twist people into new and useful toys? Was it laziness? Jedi came already pre-trained, was that the reason?

He lays on his bunk and pets the boggling that comes up to sleep next to him. He doesn’t know where this path is leading, but he feels like he’s running out of time to make sure that he’s going the right way before they get too far down it; and he finds himself growing tired of feeling like he’s trying to figure it all out alone. One thing he’s starting to know for sure though, is that he’s starting to feel like he’s not a very good Jedi and he doesn’t know what to do in the face of that realization.

>|<

Things for the most part are repetitive on Dathomir. There’s a comfort in that, yet there’s always an ever-growing antsy feeling for the revenge that she was promised. Malicos continues to tell her that she’s not ready, but he never gives any indication of when she might be. It’s been many cycles though since a ship has been foolish enough to come to Dathomir, let alone the ruins of the old capital city. The last ship brought Malicos and even it hadn’t landed here by intention like this one has. This can’t be a good omen, outsiders showing interest in Dathomir is what brought destruction before so she goes to check it out. If the people on that ship intend to bring danger to Dathomir then it’s her responsibility as the last Nightsister to deal with it.

There’s something…odd about the ship when she gets close to it and the feeling follows the young man who steps off of it and looks around. He feels completely at odds with everything that Dathomir is, it’s strange but he makes her think of a candle’s flame in a dark cave. Out of place, drawing attention to itself and needlessly bright.

“Cal? Can we talk for a moment?” A woman steps off the ship following the other and he turns to her. They’re both like Malicos, human shaped, although the creature that she sees at the front of the ship through the glass windows is something else entirely. She’s never seen anything like it before, it reminds her of just how much about the outside worlds she doesn’t know.

“Yeah, what’s up?” He asks as he turns to her and she approaches him but stops a strangely large distance apart for normal conversation.

“I just wanted to remind you to be careful.” She says and she looks like she wants to close that distance, to reach out to him but there’s something in his own body language that tells Merrin that he wouldn’t appreciate the gesture. It makes Merrin think a little about how she interacts with Malicos, a certain level of distrust that’s ever present in each of their conversations these days.

“I know, I will. I’ve got BD remember?” He says and the little droid over his shoulder beeps at that and the woman gives them both a tight smile that doesn’t reach her eyes.

“Yeah, okay. It’s just that…Dathomir is dangerous Cal.” She says.

“I’ll be careful. I know what I have to do, I’ve done it before.” Is his reply and Merrin doesn’t like the sound of that. Having a reason why he’s here bodes bad things.

“I know what you’re capable of, I’m not denying that I just…” She looks away from him to the ruins of their old city. “Keep your guard up, and if you need me…please don’t hesitate to call.” The young man cringes a little at that before he tries to hide it with a tight chuckle.

“I think Greez would leave both of us here if we left him alone on the ship.” He says and that comment brings a much sincerer smile out of the woman.

“Probably true, but I’d still risk it if you needed help.” She seems to be trying to tell him something else and he nods before he turns and starts to walk away, before he stops suddenly and turns to look back at her.

“Hey Cere?” He calls and she pauses in her own return to the ship to look at him. “…I’d call.” He holds her gaze for a bit before his own gaze seems to soften. “I’d call.” She straightens her shoulders a little, and she nods once to him. Something’s just happened here, Merrin isn’t certain what it is, but something has just happened. It almost looks like an olive branch has been offered and accepted.

“That’s…good to hear. I’ll keep the comms open. Don’t have too much fun out there.” She says before she heads into the ship and he snorts softly before heading over to a viney outcropping and starts climbing.

“Come on BD, let’s go get this thing and get out of here.” He hoists himself up over the edge and starts meandering through the ruins, curious eyes taking in the remnants of their old homes and lives. He doesn’t look very tough and Merrin’s almost about to leave him to the wildlife of Dathomir when he comes across an old offering of hers. He kneels down and holds out his hand and there’s a strange ripple that seems to emanate from him. The droid beeps and he opens his eyes and lets out a deep breath while dropping his hand.

“Whoever left this here, left it in memory of someone who passed.” He says and Merrin’s whole body tenses. “There’s a lot of sadness attached to this, a lot of loneliness.” The droid beeps again. “Yeah, I’m fine. It’s horrible, what happened here.” He stands and looks around at the ruins. “A whole culture, gone.” Not as gone as he might think.

For a moment she’ll acknowledge that he tricked her. She’s followed him around without his knowledge, watching him interact with the memory of her people, the little droid taking scans for unknown reasons and she’d thought him harmless, she was even about to tell the Nightbrother’s to leave this one alone. To let him do whatever it was he came to do and let them leave without incident.

And then the black bane spider attacks and she almost comes out of hiding to rip his heart out of his chest when she sees him unhook that _thing_ off of his belt and the blue light that comes from it reminds her of the one that came and sliced down her mother and her sisters.

He’s a _Jedi_. One would _dare_ to return to Dathomir after what they did? Wasn’t it enough that they wiped out her sisters and their way of life once already? Now this one would pretend to feel remorse for their actions? Was he sent here to make sure that the job was done? She’s surprised that they sent someone so young, but perhaps that’s how little of a threat they thought any potential survivor would be. So pathetic that they sent a child to deal with it. He doesn’t look much older than her, who knows he might even be younger and he wanders through her sister’s graves like he belongs here, like he has any right to tread on Dathomir.

It makes her want to claw his face off.

Instead she grabs a few Nightbrothers and heads back to handle the problem. He’s kneeling at some random markings on the wall, letting his droid take scans again.

“Strange…” He says, standing and looking around. “This place seems abandoned but…” She can’t think of a better time to reveal herself and so she releases her magicks so to reveal herself to him. Naturally, he pulls out that damned weapon and holds it ready to slice them down. Foolish boy, this will not end the way the last one did. She would have satisfaction; she would have his death.

“You trespass, _Jedi_.” She sneers and she hates how his face seems more like a mix of confused and surprised instead of the cold hatred that his compatriot had when they came and sliced them down.

“You must be a Nightsister.” He says, foolishly taking a step closer and lowering his weapon. Did he not even consider her a threat? That would be his undoing. “I had heard that you were all dead.”

“Not all.” She reveals her backup to him. “Dathomir is forbidden to you. Leave at once.”

“Well I’m afraid I can’t do that, but perhaps we could help each other? You see I-” She gave him a chance; it was more than they ever gave them. The Nightbrothers sense her irritation and rage and they prepare to attack and he falls into a defensive stance. “Easy.” He tries to tell them. “I’m not your enemy.”

“Your actions say otherwise.” She imbues the Nightbrothers with the necessary magick and the Jedi seems to realize that this situation is quickly spiraling out of his control.

“I’m not here to-” He tries to say something but she’s finished listening to him. It’s time for him to die, like all Jedi who might come after him. Her revenge starts now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I do feel like there is something to be said about whether or not the Jedi were actually the bad guys of the story. Considering the Jedi Apprentice series and other media I'd argue that they were actually pretty damn terrible, but that young Padawans wouldn't really have any outside world experience to recognize that before being completely indoctrinated. So Cal's got some questions and shit he's gotta figure out before he can figure out what his role in all of this is.


End file.
